One Piece High School - Senior Year
by jalexis4eva
Summary: After a hectic summer, it's time for Robin and the others to begin their final year of High School, their Senior Year! But with new enemies, blasts from the past and the looming threat of 'Joker', will this be the most difficult year of their lives? Third story after 'One Piece High School' and 'One Piece High School - Summer Vacation'. Contains ZoRo, LuNa and other pairings.
1. New Faces

**Hey guys, hope you're all having a great Sunday. I'm not. Chelsea drew with Southampton :(. But that doesn't matter, we're back! Welcome to the first chapter of the third and final part of my One Piece High School series!**

**Before we get on with this chapter, I'd firstly like to once again thank everyone whose read One Piece High School and/or One Piece High School Summer Vacation. You gave me a lot of great support for both those stories and I'm really grateful for that. **

**Secondly, I want to warn you that there are A LOT of new characters introduced in this chapter, plus there are a lot of old characters who didn't feature that much in the Summer Vacation Story (especially towards the end) making returns in this chapter. So it's a lot different to usual, but I do hope you can get to grips with that, and hopefully you'll be looking forwards to future chapters with some of the new characters. **

**I feel like there's more I should say, but this author's note is pretty long, so let's just get on with the first chapter!**

Mr Shanks tried his hardest to resist laughing, but the challenge proved too difficult, the teacher eventually bursting out laughing. Mr Mihawk, who didn't realise that he was being watched, glared at the figure leaning against the doorway. "What's so funny?" He angrily demanded.

"Come on, it's the first day of the school, and the first thing I see is you pacing backwards and forwards in your classroom. How am I supposed to react?"

"I don't know, perhaps you may consider going to your own classroom so that you can get things ready for your new classes?"

Shanks laughed. "Pfft, you know that's not my style. I prefer to go with the flow. So what's eating you anyway? It can't be that your nervous about the new students, can it?"

"If you must know, I was thinking about Mr Doflamingo…"

Shanks' carefree persona immediately evaporated at the sound of that name. "So you believe the rumours, huh…"

"You don't?"

Shanks turned around, deciding it was maybe best to head to his own classroom. "I didn't say that. Anyway, the guy's gone so we don't have to worry about whether or not what he supposedly did was true."

Mihawk sighed. "I know. Say, Shanks, have you looked at the list of new pupils yet?"

Shanks, who had been about to go, blinked, turning back around. "No. Why?"

"There are a lot of them. Way more than usual."

Shanks chuckled dismissively. "I wouldn't read anything into that. You know how these things are, the amount of new students changes every year."

"I know that," Mihawk replied irritably, not liking the way that Shanks seemed to be talking down to him. "But still, there's a lot of potential for new trouble, whilst the old trouble is still here. At least for another year."

"You're talking about Luffy and the guys, right?"

"Who else?"

Shanks grinned. "You're way too uptight. Things would be way too boring around here without them."

"And would that be such a bad thing?"

Shanks laughed, at last setting off for his own classroom. "Wow, school hasn't even started and you're already complaining about trouble. Good luck lasting 'til the end of the week!"

Mihawk watched Shanks' retreating figure for a second before smirking, although the red-haired teacher didn't see that. "I see you're the same as always…" He muttered to himself.

######

The blonde man smiled, inhaling deeply as he stepped out of his car into the first September morning of the year. The first day of school. The first day of his new job.

"Are you sure about this?" A female voice asked as she opened the back door of the vehicle. "I mean, you could have called or visited them or something."

"I don't know whether they still live in the same house. Besides, It'll be more fun to surprise him in school, don't you think?"

"If you say so."

"You don't sound convinced. Although I guess you don't know them."

The younger female pouted. "Hey, you haven't seen them since you were kids either!"

The blonde man laughed. "That's true, but we were very close as children. Brothers, actually."

"Well, not really…"

The blonde man glanced back at his younger companion, his expression completely serious. "No, really. We're brothers. We did the ritual and everything."

"That just sounds creepy…"

The older man chuckled, turning around. "Well you can ask him when we find him at school. Although first we need to figure out where exactly your classroom is. And my classroom too for that matter…"

"That's right. I wonder if we'll see Robin too."

"Oh, that's right. She moved to this city, didn't she? I wonder… wouldn't it be an amazing coincidence if she came to this school too?"

######

Bartolomeo grinned. It was his first day at his new school. Luffy's School! It would seem some dreams really did come true…

The green haired boy was too busy drooling at the thought of spending all year at Luffy's side that he didn't notice a blonde boy with a black hat standing in front of the school. As a result, Bartolomeo walked straight into the boy, nearly knocking him over.

When the blonde boy had recovered, he turned to glare at Bartolomeo. "Hey, watch where you're going! I would never forgive you if you damaged this perfect face of mine."

Bartolomeo snorted. "Perfect? As if… The only perfect person is Luffy. I don't have time for cocky jackasses like you."

"You've got a real attitude considering you're the one in the wrong here. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today, or I'd have to fix that for you."

Bartolomeo rolled his eyes, walking away from the blonde boy and towards the school entrance. "If you say so… whoever you are…"

The blonde boy glared at Bartolomeo as he walked off. "What, you're not even gonna ask my name?"

"Don't care."

The blonde boy gasped. At his old school he'd been used to being the centre of attention, the most popular and more importantly, the most handsome boy. No one would have dreamt of talking to him like Bartolomeo had. "It's Cavendish!" he called out.

Bartolomeo continued walking. "I told you I don't care. It doesn't matter if your name is Cabbage or whatever."

A vein popped on Cavendish's head. "I said Cavendish, not Cabbage! And aren't you going to tell me yours?"

"Eh.. Maybe later."

This annoyed Cavendish even further. "What's that supposed to mean! All you have to do is tell me your name! It's not that hard!"

Bartolomeo didn't reply, opening the door and entering the school. Cavendish glared at the entrance. "Jeez, I hope not everyone in this school is a rude jerk like him…"

######

"Wait, Rebecca!"

The pink haired girl, who was already a good 100m or so from her house, turned around to see her father dash out of the house holding a small brown paper bag. "Is that…"

Kyros smiled as he quickly caught up to his daughter. He proudly waved the object in front of her. "Your lunch. I made it special for you."

Rebecca decided against informing her father that she already had money to buy lunch and would probably go for that option rather than one of her dad's infamous inedible lunches and just took the bag, smiling as convincingly as she could. "Thanks a lot dad!"

Rebecca expected her father to head back inside, but Kyros just stood there awkwardly, shuffling his feet slightly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was too nervous to actually say it. Rebecca giggled. "What is it?"

"It's just… you remember what I said yesterday, right?"

Rebecca inwardly rolled her eyes. "Don't worry dad, I get it. I'm not to talk to any boys under any circumstances." _"Like that's realistic…" _she added as an afterthought.

Kyros certainly seemed to think it was, him smiling relievedly. "Alright then. Enjoy your first day Rebecca. I love you so much."

Rebecca smiled back. "Love you too dad."

The father and daughter exchanged one last hug before Rebecca set off on her way again, her new school the destination.

######

Trafalgar Law scowled up at the sky, having just finished checking his front porch, like he did every morning. There was no letter, as always.

It had been about a month since he'd last heard from Monet. A month spent searching continuously for news of Doflamingo and Vergo. A month of no progress on that front. It seemed to Law that he was further away than ever from finding either of those two.

Law sighed, making the decision to push all of those worries to one side for today. It was the first day of school after all. The first day of his senior year! How time flies…

Without realising it, Law found himself smiling as he walked the familiar route to school. He hadn't had any contact with Luffy and the others since the soccer tournament and that day had been pretty hectic, with the incident with the blue haired girl. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to her.

Law smirked, actively increasing his pace, actually wanting to get to school as quickly as possible. For a while now he had isolated himself, and now he was looking forward to catching up with all of his friends. At least he still had them.

######

Ace hummed to himself as he locked the front door on the way out, Luffy well on the way to school at this point. It wasn't just school that was starting today. Today was the day that Ace was returning to work, the day he'd been looking forward to pretty much since he'd been discharged from the hospital.

The police officer had spent the last couple of weeks at home counting seconds as he stared blankly at either the TV or his laptop, all his thoughts centring around one man.

Marshall D Teach.

Ace was going to get him. The man that had betrayed everyone at the police force, his closest friends. The man that had broken Crocodile out of Impel down and put Olivia and Robin in danger. But most importantly, the man that nearly killed his brother. His little brother. That on it's own was enough motivation for Ace.

The drive to work seemed shorter than usual, although Ace's mind hadn't been on the drive, so maybe that was why. It had only been a few weeks since Ace had turned up for work, yet it felt like it had been much longer. Ace couldn't quite figure out why that was the case.

After dealing with a round of welcome backs and firm handshakes from pretty much every single person in the force, Ace finally made it to his desk. He sat there for a second, only one thing still on his mind.

He was going to get Teach. Even if it killed him, he was going to get him.

######

"Have fun."

Violet glanced back at Vergo, who was standing in the doorway of the apartment complex, his arms crossed, his expression hidden behind his sunglasses. He would look pretty cool if it wasn't for the piece of burger stuck on the side of his mouth. Violet gestured towards her face, Vergo getting the hint and removing the piece of food. Violet turned around.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked coldly. Vergo raised an eyebrow.

"I thought we were over this… hostility?"

Violet didn't think that was worth a response, just continuing on her way. Vergo frowned. "You do remember why we got you this job, don't you?"

"is it to do with your interest in bringing through the next generation?"

Vergo chuckled. "Cute. No. Starting today, you will take Joker's job as a teacher in that school. From there you will continue his work on the SMILE factory."

Violet rolled her eyes. "I know."

"Just making sure." Vergo stated in a monotone. Violet watched him for a second, before beginning walking again. One thing's for sure, she definitely didn't trust these people.

######

Mr Shanks frowned. "Um… can I help you?"

Bartolomeo, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground outside the red-haired teacher's classroom, shook his head. "I'm OK thanks. I'm waiting for Lu… I'm waiting for Luff… I'm…I'm waiting for Lu… Lu…. L…."

"Luffy?" Shanks guessed, seeing as Bartolomeo seemed unable to bring himself to complete the sentence. The green haired boy weakly nodded. "I'd come back later if I were you. School doesn't start for another ten minutes and Luffy's usually at least another ten late."

Bartolomeo grinned. "I don't mind. I'll wait as long as it takes!"

Shanks blinked, wondering who this guy waiting outside his classroom was and why he was so desperate to see Luffy. "Alright then. But don't you have a classroom of your own you need to be getting to?"

Bartolomeo shrugged. "I dunno. Probably."

"And?"

Bartolomeo jerked his thumb towards himself. "That doesn't really matter to me. I'm her for one reason, and one reason only. And that's Lu… Luff…. L…."

Shanks sighed, deciding to leave the green haired youth outside his classroom, entering the familiar room himself. He guessed this was one of the new kids Mihawk was talking about. Although he didn't seem to be so much a troublemaker as a weirdo. Although that could be worse.

Suddenly, Shanks heard a scream from outside. He glanced out of the window to see a giant blonde boy holding a much smaller student by the scruff of his neck, the smaller student looking more than a little beat up. Bartolomeo peered over Mr Shanks' shoulder and scowled at the scene outside. "Who the hell is that?"

Shanks frowned. "I dunno, must be a new- Wait, what are you doing in here? This isn't your classroom! If you're gonna hang around, wait outside!"

Bartolomeo shrugged, turning around and making for the door. "Whatever. Say, if you want, I could take care of that jerk outside for you…"

"You know as a teacher I can't approve of that…"

Bartolomeo sighed. "Fine, your loss. It just means you have to go out and deal with that guy."

Shanks also sighed. Bartolomeo definitely had a point. And just after he'd finally gotten into his classroom as well. The red haired teacher followed Bartolomeo out of the room. As he made his way outside he was acutely aware of the fact that the green haired teen was following him. When he realised he wasn't going to stop, Shanks stopped and looked sternly at Bartolomeo. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted to come and watch."

A vein popped on Shanks' head. "Watch what? This isn't a show you know!"

"What's the harm? I ain't breaking any rules am I?"

Shanks glared at the new student. OK, maybe he got this one wrong. Perhaps as well as being a weirdo, he was a troublemaker too.

######

Violet stared at the papers on her desk. She had finally gotten into school about ten minutes ago and, after taking a few minutes to sort out her stuff, was now awaiting her new class. Honestly, she was more nervous than she thought she'd be. Although teaching was just a cover for what she was really doing, she couldn't help but feel nervous about meeting the children she'd be in charge of for the next year. Like it or not, they would depend on her, and she genuinely didn't want to let them down.

The new teacher's head immediately shot up at the sound of the door opening. In strode in a handsome blonde boy, the absolute picture of confidence. He glanced at the teacher, removing the black hart he was wearing and almost gliding over to her desk. Violet thought he was trying way too hard to look as cool as possible. Nonetheless, she put on a friendly smile for the first arrival. "Good morning."

"Good morning Miss, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Cavendish."

"I'm Violet," the new teacher replied without thinking. She mentally slapped herself as soon as she had said it. She had never been a teacher before though, so she wasn't used to introducing herself by the surname.

Cavendish blinked. "O…K… Miss."

The two remained there awkwardly for a moment, Violet too embarrassed to even say anything to try and correct her mistake. Luckily, the door then opened and in strolled another student. A girl this time.

Violet turned to smile brightly at her, but froze at the fact that it wasn't a stranger who had entered the room. She knew this girl.

The pink haired girl smiled nervously at her new teacher and then Cavendish before catching herself and quickly looking back at the teacher again, remembering the promise she made her father. Cavendish, however, mistook this as evidence that she had a crush on him and was too nervous to stare at him, causing the blonde boy to smirk smugly. The pink haired girl, focussing solely on the teacher, curtseyed slightly. "Hello. I'm Rebecca."

Violet knew who this was. Even though they hadn't seen each other in years, she'd seen pictures. Standing in front of her was someone who Violet had thought she'd never see again. But Violet couldn't help but feel happiness welling up inside her. She had dreamt for so long about this moment.

Because standing in front of her was her niece.

######

The giant blonde boy laughed wildly, shoving his victim against the wall. Around him, a crowd of students were watching, positively terrified of this new kid whose first action at his new school was beating the shit out of someone for 'looking at him funny'.

"You know, I don't recognise you…" A voice muttered from behind the crowd. Slowly the huddle of students parted, revealing Eustass Kid, staring coldly at the grinning blonde boy. "So you must be a new kid. I know it's dumb coming from me, considering this is exactly what I did when I was new here, but if you think you can get away with picking fights at this place, you're definitely mistaken…"

The blonde boy just grinned inanely. "Well what am I supposed to do when some wimp's just standin' there gawkin' at me?"

Kid smirked. "He was probably 'gawkin'' at you because of that ugly mug of yours."

The blonde boy didn't seem offended, instead meeting Kid's smirk with one of his own. He released the beat up student, said boy scurrying away as quickly as he could. "I thought you said I shouldn't go around picking fights? Isn't that what you're doin' now?"

"I said **you** shouldn't go around picking fights. You don't want to go around attracting attention from the wrong people. Like me, for example."

"Oh? Is that so? Say, what's your name? I want to make a list of all the guys I beat up. My record's twenty before I got expelled."

"Well ain't you a tough guy? I'm Kid. And yourself?"

The blonde teen jerked a thumb towards himself. "I'm Bellamy."

All the other students began backing away, sensing a fight about to break out. However before it could, a new arrival entered the fray.

Mr Smoker wasn't looking forward to the first day of school. And it was all because of one person. Just one person.

Monkey D Luffy.

He'd taught the now High School senior for three years now. Teaching him for one lesson would have been too much, but three years? It felt like a cruel joke sometimes. He had him for a fourth year now as well. It would seem that Luffy just knew how to push Smoker's buttons, but that really wasn't the case. It wasn't that Luffy intentionally pushed the buttons, it was that he had a habit of accidentally falling on them. Repeatedly. Luffy wound up Smoker without even trying, and that really really really pissed Mr Smoker off.

But today, his first headache surprisingly wasn't to do with Luffy. It was to sort out this new blonde kid who, like Shanks, he had been watching from his classroom window before deciding to take action.

"You," Smoker practically whispered, not even needing to raise his voice to intimidate the no longer grinning Bellamy. "Come with me. Now."

And just like that, the fight was ended before it begun, Bellamy following Smoker, although not before mouthing 'We'll finish this later' to a scowling Kid, surprised that Smoker hadn't punished him also. Looked like he wasn't so bad after all.

######

"This place is so noisy…" Zoro grumbled, glancing out of the window just in time to see Smoker escorting Bellamy away.

With the official start of the school day and so the school year just minutes away, most of Mr Shanks' class had now arrived at his classroom, with Nami and Luffy the only exceptions. The teacher himself wasn't there obviously, having gone with Bartolomeo to sort out the trouble outsider, not aware that Mr Smoker had beaten them to it.

Robin looked at the clock at the front of the classroom, over the empty teacher's desk. "I wonder where the teacher is…"

Usopp frowned. "It's not like him to be late… say Chopper, what's wrong?"

The short teen was slouched down on his chair, tears welling up in his eyes. "I miss Vivi!" he cried.

Zoro groaned. "Not this again…."

Robin gave him a disapproving look before getting up from her seat and going to Chopper's side, rubbing him comfortingly on the back. Just then the door opened and in strolled Mr Shanks. He glanced back at the doorway, where Bartolomeo was stood frozen, looking between Zoro and the others, starstruck as usual.

Robin smiled kindly at him. "Good morning Mr Birdy."

"G… Good morning miss Robin! I… I'm so happy to be able to be so close to you all. Especially, you, Lu… L.. LUFFY!"

Bartolomeo beamed, looking around the classroom, his smile disappearing when he finally realised Luffy wasn't there.

Mr Shanks rolled his eyes. "What did I tell you? Luffy's not here yet. And you need to be getting to your class. So beat it."

Bartolomeo glared at him. "No way, I'll wait here as long as it takes!"

Robin looked between the teacher and student, sensing trouble about to begin. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "You know Mr Birdy, Luffy really looks up to Mr Shanks…"

Bartolomeo's eyes widened. Suddenly, without warning, he dropped to his knees, startling Mr Shanks. "I… In that case, I'm so sorry Sir! I won't disrespect you again! I'll go to my class immediately!"

With that Bartolomeo got to his feet and scurried out of Mr Shanks' classroom in search of his own. Mr Shanks just stared at his retreating figure. "What a strange guy."

Zoro meanwhile, smirked at Robin. "You really know how to deal with him, don't you?"

Robin giggled. "I guess so."

######

Violet stood motionless, not knowing what to say. This was her niece! Her niece! She had grown up so much! Violet couldn't believe she was already 16. When she'd last seen her in person she'd only been a baby after all. That felt like such a long time ago to Violet now though. Given everything that had happened…

Rebecca shuffled her feet slightly, not really understanding why her teacher was staring wide-eyed at her. Cavendish looked between the two, wondering whether he should say something. Just when he was about to, the door opened. Cavendish looked over in that direction, instantly feeling his first day getting a lot worse.

"You gotta be kidding…"

Cavendish glared heatedly at the room's new arrival, who just stared blankly at him. Now it was Rebecca and Violet's, who'd been snapped out of her trance by Cavendish's voice, turn to look between the two, not understanding the reason for the the tension. For a couple of seconds, Cavendish stared down the confused green haired teen. Eventually, a light bulb went off in Bartolomeo's head. "Oh, I remember you now! Cabbage, right?"

"It's Cavendish! Cabbage isn't a name! Miss, please don't tell me this jerk is in this class too!"

Violet, a little hesitant to interrupt the 'standoff' between the two, cleared her throat. "Welcome… uh…."

Bartolomeo turned to her, annoying Cavendish who didn't like the idea of being ignored. "Bartolomeo. Sorry I'm late, I was waiting for Lu… For L…. for someone. I would have waited for longer, but the red haired teacher said I had to come here…"

Violet smiled at him. "Oh don't worry, You're not late. Most of the other students aren't here yet either. Anyway, please take a seat everyone. We actually have half an hour before lessons start in which I believe the principal said we were 'to get to know each other'."

Cavendish scoffed, heading to the far end of the room, as far away from Bartolomeo as possible. "I don't want to get to know that jerk."

Bartolomeo glared at him, taking the seat closest to the front of the room, preserving the gap between the two. "Well who said I wanted to get to know you asshole?"

Rebecca looked between the two, choosing a seat in the front row of the classroom, although at the opposite end of the classroom. She giggled slightly. She remember what her father had said that morning, but these boys didn't seem that bad. Violet noticing this, smiled, before a sad realisation dawned upon her.

The very reason why she hadn't seen Rebecca in so long was the reason why she couldn't now tell Rebecca who she was. Violet bit her lip. That didn't matter. Even if Rebecca couldn't know they were related, she was definitely going to make the most of their time together.

######

The blonde man smiled at the sight of the gaping teen in front of him. "It's been a while, hasn't it… Luffy?"

Luffy just stood there motionless, unable to say anything, his mouth completely dry. Nami, at his side, stared in shock at her boyfriend, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Luffy?"

"S… "

The blonde man, who Nami guessed was a new teacher, walked towards Luffy. He removed his black hat. "You haven't changed a bit. Still carrying around that Straw Hat of yours. Although I still have my own favoured headgear, so I guess I can't complain."

"Sa…"

The blonde man was now standing just a couple of metres in front of Luffy. "When we were kids we used to fight all the time. You could never beat me or Ace. We should have a rematch, although I think maybe an arm wrestle may suffice this time… Although we probably can't do that here. All kinds of rules about students and teachers you know?"

"Sab…"

The new teacher held his hand out to Luffy. "I've really missed you. Brother."

"SABO!"

**I think someone mentioned Sabo in a review in the Summer Vacation story actually. I'm not 100% sure on that, but here he is anyway! Not that he's the only new character haha. **

**So yeah, what do you think? Was it a good enough opening chapter for the new story? As always, I'd love it if you guys could leave a review, your thoughts and opinions are really important to me. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Luffy, Ace and Sabo

**To be honest guys, I'm absolutely amazed with the response to the first chapter last week. Not only did I get 10 reviews, which must be a record, but they were pretty much all absolutely amazing. You guys seem as excited about this story as I myself am about writing it, which is really awesome. I'd love to see you guys continuing in that way in regards to the number of reviews. I absolutely love hearing what you guys have to say. **

**Anyway, before we start I would like to give a quick response to "Robin4life". As you can probably tell from the two stories previous to this one, Robin is the main character and Zoro x Robin is the main pairing of the story, but this story isn't heavily romantic, and whilst Robin is the main character, It's not focussed solely on her. This chapter for example is all about Luffy, Ace and Sabo. I'll write about whichever character I want really, so if you want a story completely about Zoro and Robin, it's not going to be this one. Sorry. **

Luffy launched forward, practically tackling the blonde teacher into a hug, not satisfied with the offer of a handshake. Sabo didn't seem to mind however, patting a weeping Luffy on the back.

"I… I missed you so much!" Luffy bawled. Sabo smiled gently.

"I missed you too. Man, this brings back a lot of good memories."

Nami blinked, not understanding what was going on. "Uh…"

Sabo, as if noticing that there was someone with Luffy for the first time, looked up. "Oh hey. You must be one of Luffy's friends. I'm Sabo. Luffy's big brother."

Nami didn't know quite what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. "I… uh… what? Luffy's… brother?"

"Yeah. He didn't mention me before?"

Nami just continued to stare at the still crying Luffy. "No, he didn't. Neither did Ace or Garp."

Sabo laughed. "Actually Garp never approved of me hanging around with Luffy and Ace when we were younger, so that doesn't surprise me. Ace, on the other hand… Ah well, it's been so long, so I guess it's not too surprising that Luffy and Ace have never talked about me."

######

"_Stop following me!" a ten year old Ace yelled at his five year old brother, who was attempting to hide behind a bush. Unfortunately, what he didn't realise was that his hair was sticking up from behind the bush, giving away his position. _

"_But why?" Luffy whined, standing up. _

"_What do you mean why? Why do you have to follow me? Go find some other little kids your age to play with!" _

"_But I don't know any!" Luffy bawled. _

_A vein popped on Ace's forehead. "How is that my fault! You can't come with me though, you're still just a little kid! Go home and play with Grandpa or something!" _

_Luffy pouted, hoping Ace would budge. He didn't. So, the five year old turned around, pretending to go back home, fully intent on continuing to follow Ace when he got going again. _

_######_

_Ace took a quick glance around, making sure no one was watching him, before entering the forest in the park. He then took his usual route, leading him to a familiar tree. Crouching down next to it was a blonde boy, around his age, wearing a black top hat. Upon hearing Ace approaching, he glanced up and grinned, revealing a big gap in his teeth. "Hey Ace! You're a little late…: _

_Ace rolled his eyes. "Sorry Sabo, it was my little brother again. He's so annoying…" _

"_He can't be that bad…" _

_Ace glared at him. "You don't know him! H_e'_s the the biggest crybaby ever!" _

_Sabo laughed, before turning back to the tree. Or rather, what was stashed under the tree roots. "So anyway, do you have any more?" _

_Ace nodded, reaching into his pocket and digging out exactly $2.65. Sabo stepped aside, revealing a small box, 'borrowed' from his his mother. She wouldn't miss it, she had hundreds after all. Ace opened the box and deposited the pocket change. "I had 2 dollars and 65 cents Sabo, how much does that make the total now?" _

"_Uh… let's see…." Sabo took a moment to compute the sum in his head, before smiling victoriously. "30 dollars and 87 cents. Wow, that's so much!" _

"_How much do you think we'll need?" _

_Sabo thought for a second. "Well, the ship will cost at least 50. Then we'll need lots of food and stuff like that. I think if we can collect 100 dollars, we'll definitely have enough!" _

_Ace grinned. "We can get that easily. I bet by the time we're grown up we'll have double that. So it's settled then, when we turn 17, we'll use this money to buy a pirate ship and set sail from here, away from your evil parents!" _

_Sabo smiled, honestly feeling himself getting a little emotional at the thought of their plan. "Yeah. Thanks Ace."_

_######_

"_Aceeeee!" Luffy yelled, clumsily traversing the uneven terrain of the park forest. He had seen Ace come in here, but had lost him afterwards. _

_Suddenly, Luffy's stomach growled. "Man, I'm so huuuungry!" Luffy whined. The small boy was so distracted by his hunger that he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, resulting in him tripping over a tree root. _

"_Ow, that hurt!" Luffy rolled around in pain on the ground for a second before noticing a small box hidden under the tree roots. Luffy blinked, his curiosity about the item meaning that he momentarily forgot both his pain and hunger. He crouched down and removed the object, opening it without a second thought as to who it may belong to or what may lie inside. But Luffy never worried about that kind of stuff anyway._

_Luffy's eyes widened at the sight of the numerous coins coupled with a few notes inside. Luffy wasn't a fan of Math, but the amount of money in the box certainly seemed like a lot. "Wow! I wonder whose this is! Maybe its a pirate's treasure!" _

_Luffy grinned, replacing the box and immediately resolving to find Ace, hoping that he would be interested in his little 'discovery', not knowing that the money actually belonged to Ace. Well, partly anyway. _

_######_

_Luffy looked around the park. A quick scan of every direction confirmed that Ace was still nowhere in sight. "Oh no… what do I do?" _

_Just then, Luffy heard the sound of laughing. He turned around to see a small group of kids around Ace's age. Luffy smiled. Maybe they'd know where Ace was! _

_With that, a beaming Luffy approached the older boys, feeling no sense of danger whatsoever. "Hey, excuse me!" _

_One of the boys, a tall boy with long whitish blue hair, turned around and scowled at Luffy. "What do you want, kid?"_

"_Hey, I'm Luffy! I was wondering if you know my big brother, Ace?" _

_The tall boy stared at Luffy. Did he say Ace? As in Ace, his archenemy? Well, him and Sabo were both equally bad, but still. Ace and Porchemy, the name of the tall boy, had been enemies for a couple of years now, ever since Ace first moved into town with his Grandfather and younger brother. Porchemy and his gang had always been able to bully the other kids in the area into doing what they wanted, but this tactic didn't work on Ace or Sabo, who were able to fight back, usually much harder than Porchemy could. _

_Not believing his luck, Porchemy grinned at Luffy. "Sure I do! Me and Ace are good friends actually."_

_Luffy's eyes lit up. "Really! Cool, what's your name?" _

"_I'm Porchemy. So why do you want to find Ace?" _

_Luffy grinned. "I found something really cool I want to show him. It's this box I found in the forest." _

_Porchemy's eyes widened. He knew what Luffy was talking about. "Ace's stash?! You know where it is?!" _

_Luffy blinked. "Huh? Ace's? You mean it's his?" _

_Porchemy grinned evilly. This was too good to be true. He'd spent weeks searching for Ace's stash, having overheard Ace and Sabo talking about it once. And now he'd found someone who could lead him to it. "Come on guys, let's take Luffy here to Ace. I know just where he'll be at…" _

_######_

_Ace scowled as he turned the corner onto his street, not looking forward to going home to his annoying brother and overly-aggressive grandfather. But it was lunchtime and he had to eat. He'd be able to go out and meet Sabo in the afternoon, and that was good enough for him. _

"_Ace!"_

_Ace turned around, surprised by the sight of a panicked looking Sabo running towards him. "What are you doing here? You know your parents will be angry if they find out you've been in our neighbourhood!" _

_Sabo panted heavily as he reached Ace. "That doesn't matter… It's Porchemy. He and his friends are beating up some little kid!" _

"_A little kid?"_

"_Yeah, I saw them in the forest when I was heading back there to put some more money in our chest. Two of them were holding this kid down whilst Porchemy punched him. He looked a lot like you Ace actually…"_

_Ace's eyes widened. It couldn't be…. "Luffy!" _

_With that Ace sprinted past Sabo in the direction of the park. Sabo, needing a couple of seconds to catch his breath having run the whole way there in the first place, watched Ace for a couple of seconds, before running as fast as he could after him. _

_######_

_Sabo, noticing Porchemy and his friends a little ahead, joined Ace in hiding behind a nearby tree. "Poor kid…" he muttered, too quiet for Porchemy to hear._

_Ace watched the scene in front of him through gritted teeth. "It's Luffy. That idiot. I told him not to come here." _

"_That's your little brother?"_

_Ace nodded. "Yeah. Why are they picking on him though?" _

"_I'm not sure… "_

_Porchemy growled. "Quite playing dumb! I know you know where Ace's stash is!" _

_Luffy gulped, looking away from Porchemy. "N.. No, I don't!" _

_Porchemy glared at him. "You're such a terrible liar! It's obvious you do!" _

_Ace clenched his fists. "So that's what it is…"_

_Sabo covered his mouth, horrified by what was happening to Luffy. "He's just letting them punch him. Why won't he just tell them…?" _

_Ace looked around, finally finding a hefty looking stick to use as a weapon. "Oi, Sabo…"_

_Sabo nodded, finding a stick of his own. Ace counted down from three, him and Sabo charging forward at Zero. Porchemy and his group of four friends, startled, were unprepared for the ambush, Sabo and Ace knocking down the two who were just watching before they could blink. They scrambled to their feet and ran away, as did the two holding Luffy down. That just left Porchemy, who knew he was outmatched. Before Ace and Sabo could attack, he bolted after his crew, crying something about 'Bluejam making them pay'. _

_Luffy, more than a little beat up, smiled weakly. "Ace! You saved me!" _

_Ace blushed slightly, turning away so Luffy couldn't see his face. "Shut up! I only did that because I hate those jerks. Besides… how could you just let them beat you up like that without fighting back!" _

"_But… I don't know how to fight."_

"_So why didn't you just tell them where the box was? They would have let you go if you did."_

"_If I'd done that," Luffy sniffed. "They'd have taken your treasure and you'd have been sad. You and grandpa are the only friends I have Ace." _

_Ace gritted his teeth, feeling bad for scolding Luffy now. Sabo, noticing this, smiled first at Ace and then at Luffy. "I think that was really brave of you Luffy. You're a lot tougher than Ace gives you credit for. Thank you for not telling them about our treasure."_

"_Its yours too?"_

_Sabo nodded, holding his hand out to help Luffy up. "My name's Sabo, and I'm a friend of Ace's. That box you found was our treasure, and it's really important to us. Thank you for not telling them where it was." _

_Ace rolled his eyes, clearly not happy with how Sabo was playing good cop. Sabo smiled at Ace. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we let Luffy join our crew?"_

_Ace glared at him. "Are you crazy? Luffy's still just a little kid, plus he's a crybaby, and he can't fight!" _

"_You and I can teach him how to fight. Besides, what's going to happen to him when we're not around? Porchemy and those guys will still pick on him."_

_Luffy's eyes lit up. "Yeah Ace! You're tough so you can teach me how to fight!"_

_Ace switched his glare from Sabo to Luffy. "No!"_

"_Please?"_

"_I said no!"_

"_Pretty please?"_

"_No!" Ace yelled as loud as he could, Sabo actually jumping slightly. Luffy opened his mouth, probably to say 'pretty pretty please' or something along those lines and Sabo had to act quickly to get between Ace and Luffy before Ace could lunge at his little brother. _

"_OK, OK, we can figure out those details later. What's important is that you two get home. Your grandpa'll probably be worried about you." _

_Ace nodded. "Good point. C'mon Luffy, let's go back."_

_With that, the three boys headed their separate ways, Luffy and Ace towards their home and Sabo towards his. _

_######_

"_Liar!" Sabo's father yelled, slapping his young child fiercely across the face. Sabo bit his lip, desperate to avoid any tears coming out at all costs. The two were currently in Sabo's father's study, Sabo having just returned home. Outside the room, Sabo's mother was waiting, no intention of course of entering the study and helping her son. She looked down at her younger son, Stelly, who seemed somewhat amused at what was happening to his older brother. _

"_Now see Stelly, this is what happens when you don't obey your parents and mix with… vermin." _

_Sabo's parents had one golden rule. Their children were never to interact with the 'vermin'. Sabo's parents were wealthy nobles, descendants of the Celestial Dragons in fact. As a result, they looked down on 'regular people' seeing them as beneath them, and so aimed to force this view on their children. Stelly had no problem with this, but Sabo could never think the same way they did. _

_Because of this, whenever Sabo wanted to hang out with Ace, his best friend, he had to leave the house secretly and get back quickly enough so that no one would notice he was gone. It was a giant house after all. However the incident with Porchemy had meant he'd been gone for too long, and so had been 'discovered'. His father had been waiting at the door when he returned and instantly dragged Sabo to his study for 'interrogation'. _

"_So what?" Sabo yelled, his rage finally getting the better of him. "Ace is my friend. He's not a vermin or whatever!" _

_Sabo's father tried to hit his son again, but Sabo avoided it and ran out of the room, past his startled mother and grinning brother. _

_######_

_Garp rolled his eyes as his five year old grandson devoured a giant chunk of meat in one gulp, distracting him from the announcement he was going to make. "Anyway, like I was saying, I'm gonna have to go away for a bit for work. Probably the whole summer." _

_Ace just shrugged, as if to say 'no big deal' whilst Luffy continued eating. A vein popped on Garp's head. "Nice to know you'll miss me… " He muttered. "Anyway, I obviously can't leave you brats here alone, so I'm sending you to live with a friend of mine. She owns a farm a couple of miles outside town. She's called Dadan." _

"_I don't wanna go," Ace replied dismissively, whilst Luffy still continued to eat. _

"_Too bad," Garp replied equally dismissively, although his response was partially drowned out by the sound of Luffy chewing. _

"_I"m not going."_

"_Well you are going."_

"_No, I'm not."_

"_Yes, you… " Garp stopped, Luffy putting a whole orange in his mouth, chewing it seemingly as loud as he could. "Yes you are." _

"_No. I'm not." Besides Ace, Luffy had returned to his meat, putting way too much in mouth, as he always did. _

"_Yes, you… for God's sake Luffy, could you stop eating for one god damn second!" _

_Luffy gulped down the half chewed food, terrified of his angry grandfather. Unfortunately, since the food wasn't fully chewed, he began choking, some of the food too big to go down. Both Garp and Ace rolled their eyes, with the old man finally getting up to give Luffy the Heimlich. _

"_Th… thanks Grandpa…" Luffy weakly gasped. _

_Garp nodded equally weakly. Sometimes he worried about Luffy. Genuinely. "So anyway, you two will stay with Dadan for probably the next couple of months. I'll be back in time for the start of school though." _

_Ace was about to respond, but Garp silenced him with a genuine glare. The older brother groaned loudly and got up. "Fine, whatever. I'm going now." He began walking towards the door before stopping and turning to Luffy, who expecting him to tell him not to follow him, as usual. However instead, he nodded towards the door. "C'mon. Just to be clear though, if you're gonna join our crew, you have to do whatever Sabo and I tell you to do, got it?" _

_Luffy gasped, jumping up from the table and nodding happily. "OK! Thank you Ace!" _

_Garp lazily watched as Luffy ran off after a reluctant Ace, not caring enough to figure out what he meant by 'crew' or who exactly 'Sabo' was. _

_######_

_Sabo sniffed, his eyes wet with tears. Now that he was away from his father, his pride didn't prevent him from crying. He was at his and Ace's usual meeting point, safe in the knowledge his father wouldn't even dream of leaving their spotless mansion, let alone wandering around a dirty muddy forest. _

"_Sabo? What's wrong?"_

_Sabo looked up from the ground to see a genuinely concerned looking Ace and a surprised looking Luffy. "Ace. Luffy." _

_Ace clenched his fists. "Your dad again huh? That jerk. I want to kick his ass so bad…" _

_Sabo smiled slightly. "Thanks for that."_

"_I'm serious. If he hits you, why don't you just hit him back? If he's just some spoilt rich jerk, he probably doesn't know anything about fighting. I bet you could kick his ass easily!"_

_Sabo shook his head. "It's not that simple. He's my father, I can't do anything to him." _

_Luffy blinked. "Your dad hits you too? Does he hit as hard as Grandpa does?" _

_Ace glared at him. "Idiot! The way Sabo's dad hits him is different to the way Grandpa hits us!" _

"_How? A punch is a punch, right?"_

"_The difference is Grandpa does it when you act like an idiot. Sabo's dad hits him for no reason." _

"_Grandpa hits me all this time though."_

"_That's because you act like an idiot all the time! Because you are an idiot!"_

_Sabo chuckled slightly at the two brothers bickering. Even though they didn't seem to get along, he'd take their relationship over the one he had with his brother any day. Ace glared at Sabo. _

"_I'm serious though! Why don't you just kick that jerk's ass the next time he hits you?" _

"_Because if I did I don't know what would happen. Father would be terrified of me. There's no way he'd let me stay in the same house as him." _

"_And that's good, right? You hate it there!"_

_Sabo looked sadly at Ace. "I'd have nowhere to go Ace." _

_Ace thought for a second before gasping, an idea coming to his head. "I know… you could stay with us!"_

_Sabo blinked. "What?" _

_Ace grinned. "Grandpa's leaving tomorrow, so me and Luffy are going to stay with some stupid farmer or something. You should come with us!" _

"_How could I do that. This farmer would know I'm not one of your grandfather's grandchildren." _

"_No she wouldn't! She's never met us before. Knowing grandpa, he'd probably have said something like 'look after my brats' or something. I bet we could convince her you're our brother!" _

_Sabo looked sceptical. "You seriously think that would work?" _

_Ace sighed, annoyed at Sabo's disapproval. "Well we won't know unless we try, will we? What do you say? Starting today… __**the three of us will be brothers!"**_

_Ace held his hand out. Luffy grinned and put his hand on top of Ace's. The two brothers looked expectably at Sabo, Ace's expression grim and serious, Luffy's goofy grin a pretty amusing contrast. Sabo stared at the two before smiling slightly, putting his hand on top of theirs. _

"_**Brothers!**__" the three yelled in unison, lifting their hands up to the sky._

**So yeah, back story time. Sorry if it's not your thing, but it is necessary in my opinion. I really do hope you liked it. I know everyone was excited about the new characters, but they will be back soon. **

**So yeah, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please do leave a review if you can. You guys did incredibly well with that last chapter and I'd love more of the same this chapter! **

**As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you all next week!**


	3. Our Little Brother

**So yeah, from what I can tell you guys weren't too excited by the last chapter. I figured, but I wanted to write this backstory and it has to come at some point, so yeah... **

**Also, as always, thanks for all your reviews. If we can keep up the effort on that front I'll be very happy. **

Nami glared at both the grinning Luffy and Sabo, who was telling the story. "Just because you say you're brothers, doesn't mean you actually are!"

Sabo shook his head. "Despite what we said then, it was only a little later that we truly became brothers. There's still a bit to go before that though."

Rather than go to Mr Shanks' classroom, Sabo had taken Luffy and Nami outside, the three skipping morning registration/homeroom. The three were currently sitting on the grass outside next to the soccer pitches, Sabo narrating the tale with Luffy occasionally chipping in with his own contributions.

Sabo chuckled. "Anyway, where was I…"

######

_Garp nudged both of his reluctant sons forwards. "Luffy. Ace. This is Dadan."_

_Ace scowled up at the giant orange haired woman, a couple of smaller men, probably her farm workers, hiding a little behind her. His immediate thought was that she looked very masculine, although he figured he shouldn't say that aloud. The woman's expression mirrored his and Ace couldn't help but wonder just how willing she had been to do Garp this favour. _

_Luffy, on the other hand, wasn't as 'tactful' as Ace. "You look like a man, lady!" _

_Dadan growled and lunged at Luffy, it taking two of her workers to hold her back and stop her from pulverising the little boy. Garp sighed, and punched Luffy hard on the top of his head. "Anyway. Unless you two want to say anything, I'll be going now. I'll be back soon, be good, blah, blah, blah…" _

_With that Garp turned around and began to walk off. Ace just scowled at his retreating figure, whilst Luffy grinned and waved wildly at Garp. "Bye Grandpa!" _

_Garp raised his hand to give one single wave back as he walked off, eventually disappearing from sight. Suddenly, Luffy's stomach growled loudly. He turned to beam at Dadan. "I'm hungry! Do you have any food?"_

_Dadan turned around and made her way back towards the house. "No food. First thing's first, I want you two brats to clean the barn. It's that big red building over there. When you're done with that, you're gonna feed the animals and then you're gonna plant some crops. Then, if I haven't found anything else for you runts to do, I __**may**__ feed you." _

_Ace glared at her. "What the hell? We ain't your slaves lady!" _

"_Garp left me in charge of you, which means you'll do as I say, or I'll kick you out… understand?" _

_With that, Dadan entered her house, leaving a speechless Luffy and Ace behind. _

_######_

_Luffy grinned, stroking the cow in front of him affectionately, the cow mooing happily. He was meant to be milking it of course, but Luffy had gotten a little sidetracked. _

_Ace glared at him. "What are you doing?" _

_Luffy continued to pet the animal's lower neck. "Moocy likes it when I stroke her here!" _

"_That's such a dumb name… Anyway, we need to go now."_

"_Huh? Where?" _

_Ace rolled his eyes. Had Luffy forgotten about their plan already? "We need to go get Sabo. I don't want him spending a minute longer with that jerk family of his than he needs to."_

"_But it took Grandpa such a long time to drive here. How will we get back?" _

_Ace opened his mouth to reply before pausing, realising Luffy had a good point. "That's right… It'll take a while to walk there. So… I guess I better get going now then." _

_Luffy got to his feet. "Yosh. Let's go!" _

_Ace shook his head. "You need to stay here. If I'm gonna be gone for so long, I'll need someone here to cover for me. If ugly asks where I am, you need to make an excuse."_

"_But Ace! You know I suck at lying!"_

_Ace was about to retort before he sighed. Once again, his little brother made a very good point. "Well… can you just not suck for once? Just say I went outside or something." _

"_O… OK! I'll do my best!"_

_Ace smirked slightly. "Good. I'll be back as soon as I can. When Sabo's here, then we can begin teaching you how to stand up for yourself." _

_######_

_Luckily for Luffy, Dadan didn't care enough about Ace's wellbeing to even ask him where his older brother was when she noticed him alone. Garp had dropped Ace and Luffy off in the morning and Ace had left just before midday. It was getting dark by the time the exhausted ten year old returned with a slightly less exhausted Sabo, since he had only travelled half the distance. Ace had been both there and back._

_The first thing they did was go to the barn where Luffy seemed to have genuinely built up a strong rapport with the animals, the horse he was now petting neighing happily. Ace looked exasperatedly at Sabo, who laughed. "Lighten up. Your brother really gets along with everyone, huh?" _

"_You say that like it's a good thing. It's so annoying…" _

_Luffy, only just noticing Ace and Sabo enter, smiled at the two. "Ace! Sabo! Hey!" _

"_Hey Luffy!" Sabo cheerfully replied. "You look like you've had a busy day, huh?" _

"_Yeah! These animals are really nice though!"_

_Ace rolled his eyes. "Ugly doesn't suspect that I was gone, does she?" _

"_No. She didn't ask." _

"_Figures. That hag doesn't even care, does she?" _

"_Oi, Brats!" _

_Luffy, Ace and Sabo looked to the doorway, where Dadan was standing. Her gaze was rested firmly on Sabo. "Who the hell are you?" _

"_Uh, I…"_

"_He's our brother!" Ace cut in, standing in front of Sabo protectively. "He just wasn't there this morning when Grandpa introduced us to you."_

"_Oh? And where was he?" _

"_He was, uh…" _

"_He had to go pee!" Luffy grinned, proud to be 'helping'. _

_Ace glared at him, not thinking that was a great excuse. "Uh, yeah…"_

_Dadan turned around and began to walk off. "You two suck at lying. You need to work on that. Garp only mentioned two brats, so I don't know who you are brat number 3, but I'm sure you must be running from something pretty bad if you'd voluntarily choose to come here. I ain't got any problems with you staying here as long as you pull your weight. Just don't expect any 5 star accommodation or anything."_

_Sabo nodded, bowing down slightly after a second. "Th- thank you!" _

_Dadan chuckled slightly. "Let's see if you're still thanking me after a week…If you're not gone by then."_

_######_

_Much to Dadan's surprise, Sabo was still there after not just a week, but a month. And what surprised her even more were that the three children weren't completely miserable, crying for Garp to come back. In her eyes, they woke up early morning, spent the whole day working, were fed scraps in the evening, went to bed, and then repeated the same process day after day. _

_What she didn't know was that that wasn't quite Luffy, Ace and Sabo's routine. Every morning they'd wake up early, before Dadan did, sneak into her house, and 'steal' the breakfast that Dadan didn't realise they had. Then they'd go back to the living quarters before the rest of Dadan's workers got up. They'd then 'wake up' at the same time as everyone else and get to work. _

_Dadan was pretty lazy in terms of assigning jobs to the three. All they were really responsible for was feeding the animals which they could do in under an hour. They were also meant to plant crops and clean the living quarters, but Dadan's workers did that stuff as well, so no one noticed that they didn't do those tasks._

_So after feeding the animals every morning, Luffy, Ace and Sabo left the grounds and wandered the area around Dadan's farm. It was actually a very beautiful part of the countryside. There was a large forest nearby with a creek with beautiful blue water in which the three boys often swam. They spent all day in the forest before returning to the farm in the evening, pretending they'd done a hard day's work. _

_So what did they do in the forest all day? There was a lot of exploring, climbing trees, talking about their dream, the one in which they'd all become rich pirates. But there was also Luffy's training, with Sabo and Ace teaching Luffy what they knew about fighting. This was a lot for kids their age. After just a week, Luffy was already in a position where he could probably fight off Porchemy, a boy twice his age and size._

_######_

_Ace grinned, producing the bottle of sake from behind his back. "Look what I got!"_

_Luffy cocked his head to the side, not sure what all the fuss was about. "Does it taste good?"_

_Ace rolled his eyes. "It's not about what it tastes like idiot. This is sake. I found it this morning when we were looking for food."_

_Sabo frowned. "But why did you want it?" _

_Ace reached into his pocket and produce three small cups. He placed them on the chopped down tree trunk and poured some of the drink into each of them. "Don't you guys know? If you exchange drinks of sake you can become brothers! For real! _

_Luffy gasped. "Brothers? Really?"_

_Ace nodded, lifting up his cup and raising it in front of him. "No matter what happens from this point on, if we do this… then the bond of brotherhood we share will never die!"_

_Sabo and Luffy looked at each other before grinning. They mirrored Ace's action, the three touching their glasses together. _

"_**Brothers!"**_

_######_

_Unfortunately for the new brothers, they had a little surprise waiting for them when they returned home that evening… _

_Luffy and Ace's eyes widened as they stared at the man sitting in front of the barn, alarming Sabo. "What is it?"_

"_G.. Grandpa!" _

_Garp frowned when his two grandchildren just stood there in shock. "I was hoping you two would be happier to see me…" _

_Ace sighed. "We don't want to go back yet. Can't you just go away again…"_

_A vein popped on Garp's forehead. "Ungrateful little shit! I go out of my way to come visit you two and this is the thanks I get?" _

_Ace glared at him. "Why would we thank- wait, come visit?" _

"_Yeah. I'm only here tonight, then I'll have to leave again, so yeah, you're not going back home now. I thought you'd be disappointed, but apparently not…" _

_Luffy grinned. "Yay! Thank you Grandpa!" _

"_Yeah yeah… so who's this? Dadan doesn't have a brat of her own." _

_Ace was about to respond, but Luffy got there first. "This is Sabo! He's our brother! We're gonna grow up and be pirates together one day!" _

_Garp thought Luffy was joking. When it was clear he wasn't, he shook his head. "I don't think so. No brat of mine is going to end up as a filthy pirate." _

"_No! We're definitely going to be pirates!" _

"_I said you're not!" _

"_But we've already decided!" _

_Sabo watched the back and forth whilst Ace gulped, knowing what was coming next. "He and that mouth of his…"_

_Garp cracked his knuckles. "Well then, guess I'll need to beat some sense into the __**three**__ of you…"_

_######_

_A couple of weeks passed, it reaching Mid-August. It had been an amazing summer for the three brothers, spending every day together training, fighting (Luffy was 50-0 down against both of them, but Ace and Sabo were tied at 25-25), playing, exploring… dreaming…_

_After the first few weeks, life with the farm workers had gotten better. They had gotten more used to the kids and respected the fact that they were a lot tougher than most children their age. Even Dadan felt herself feeling strangely attached to the three, not that they noticed. Ace had stopped referring to her as 'ugly' though, so that was progress._

_However as great as it had been, the question of what was going to happen when Garp did eventually come back for good to take Luffy and Ace home was beginning to become an important one. Garp had since that first visit come by the farm a couple more times and had fixed the final Sunday of August as the date when he would pick up Luffy and Ace and take them home._

_This was an issue for Sabo. Garp wasn't going to take Sabo home with him. That was a non-starter. It wasn't even because Garp didn't like Sabo, thinking the whole pirate dream was his idea, it was just the fact that Garp couldn't take someone else's kid. The only thing they could think about was Sabo continuing to stay on Dadan's farm until they could come up with some way of bringing him back to them._

_Luffy grinned. It was the morning and he was petting Moocy. Ace had gone to look for Sabo, who wasn't there when they woke up. Ace was worried, but Luffy figured his older brother would be OK. Sabo was really tough after all. _

"_Luffy!" Ace cried, running into the barn. "I can't find Sabo anywhere! And I just overheard Dadan and Dogura talking… Apparently someone broke into the farm yesterday but didn't steal anything! Don't you see… they stole Sabo!" _

_Luffy's jaw dropped. "What?! Oh no, what do we do?! Let's go find Dadan!"_

_Ace gritted his teeth. "No point. She doesn't care about us. If we're gonna get Sabo back, we'll need to do it on our own. Let's go Luffy!"_

"_Yeah!" _

_######_

_Sabo's father fiercely slapped his son, the first time he'd done that in a while. He couldn't help but feel a certain amount of satisfaction. "And if you __**ever**__ think of running away again… This punishment will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you. Understand?" _

_Sabo scowled down at the ground, not wanting to give his father the satisfaction of eye contact. The slap didn't hurt. Ace hit fifty times harder. _

_For a long time after Sabo had first run away from home, Sabo's father had had no idea as to the whereabouts of his son. He had hired a gang leader, Bluejam, to search for his son, figuring he'd be able to search even the lowest parts of town for him. However it wasn't in town that he'd found him. He'd had to wander out as far as Dadan's farm to finally find Sabo. He'd been pretty lucky as well, happening to see Garp one day and wondering where he was going out of town. Following him had led him to Dadan's farm and Sabo. _

_Bluejam, a giant man with messy black hair, smirked slightly. "So… my payment?" _

_Sabo's father was about to respond when he heard a voice outside. "Sabo!" _

_Sabo's eyes widened. There was no mistaking that voice. "Ace…"_

"_The vermin…" Sabo's father growled. He looked at Bluejam, who grinned. _

"_Understood." _

_The criminal exited the room. Sabo was about to follow him when his father quickly locked the door. An evil smile grew on his face as he gestured towards the window. "You'll probably be able to see everything from there. Wanna watch?"_

_######_

"_You!" Ace roared, seeing Bluejam open the house's front door. He lunged at the criminal, who caught him and lifted him up in the air. Ace attempted to swipe at his face, but Bluejam held him just out of reach. _

_Luffy, who had been trailing behind Ace, increased his speed. Bluejam, too preoccupied with Ace, didn't notice Luffy. The smaller boy punched Bluejam as hard as he could in the stomach. However Bluejam was a hardened gang member, and the punch wasn't able to significantly hurt him, although it did stagger him slightly. Ace took his opportunity to bite his hand. This caused Bluejam to release Ace, who tried to enter through the open door. However Bluejam's men were waiting inside and two of them easily restrained Ace. _

_Bluejam looked at his bitten hand for a second before turning to Ace. "You brat…" he growled, pulling his fist back. _

_However before he could he was tackled to the ground by a new arrival, who proceeded to repeatedly punch him in the face. Luffy, Ace and Bluejam's men all watched in shock. _

_Luffy grinned. "Dadan!" _

_Dadan just continued to punch Bluejam. "Don't! You! Dare! Touch! My! Brats!" _

_Behind her, Dogura and the other farm workers were waiting, deterring Bluejam's men from intervening. Ace used this confusion to wriggle out of their grip. Suddenly Bluejam, at last recovering from the shock, forced Dadan off him. Ace, seeing this, charged at Bluejam, wanting to help Dadan. "Luffy! Go get Sabo! Leave this to me!" _

_Luffy, slipping behind Bluejam's stunned men, nodded. "Yeah!" _

_Luffy sprinted through Sabo's mansion. "Sabo! Where are you!" _

"_Luffy!" a voice came from behind a door to the right. "I'm in here!" _

_Luffy's face lit up. "Sabo!" He reached for the door handle, but it was locked._

"_Looking for this…?"_

_Luffy turned around to see Sabo's father standing there, dangling the key. "To have a vermin child in my house…. how disgusting. I'll have to disinfect the whole place"_

_Luffy's punch may not have hurt Bluejam, but Bluejam was a gang leader. Sabo's father was a pampered noble who had the physical strength of a 12 year old girl. Luffy punched the weak man right in the gut, sending him falling over. "I won't forgive you for hurting Sabo!" _

_Luffy repeatedly punched the shocked rich man in the face. Sabo's father groaned weakly as Luffy took the key out of his all but unconscious hands. Luffy quickly went to the door and unlocked it. He opened the door and Sabo burst out of the room. He smiled at Luffy. _

"_Thank you Luffy! You saved me!"_

_Luffy grinned. "No problem! I'm glad you're OK Sabo!" _

_Just then Dogura appeared in the corridor. "Luffy! Sabo! We have a problem!"_

_Sabo looked at him. "What is it?"_

"_I just overheard someone, your mom probably, calling the police. They'll be here soon. We need to get the hell out of here!" _

_Luffy nodded. "Yosh! Let's go!" _

_Dogura and Luffy began sprinting towards the staircase, but Sabo remained put. He stared at his groaning father. Luffy stopped and glanced back at him. "Sabo?" _

"_I can't go with you." _

_Luffy blinked. "B… But why?"_

"_They know where Dadan's farm is now. It doesn't matter if I go back, he'll still know where to find me. He'll probably send the police, and that will just get you all in trouble, even though he's the only evil one here…"_

_Luffy bit his lip, feeling himself starting to cry. He wanted to go back to Dadan's farm and for things to be the same as they were before. "But Sabo! We're brothers!"_

"_Luffy…. I don't want to cause you or Ace anymore trouble. I think… it would be best if we didn't see each other again. For your own safety."_

"_But Sabo!" Luffy wailed. _

"_Luffy…" Dogura muttered, resting his hand on the small boy's shoulder. "He has a point…" _

_At this point however, tears were streaming down Luffy's face. Sabo smiled sadly, walking up to his little brother. He gripped both of his shoulders. "Don't you remember what Ace said Luffy? No matter what happens from this point on, even if we never see each other again… we'll always be brothers. That will never change." _

"_Sabo!" Luffy cried, tackling his big brother into a hug. Sabo patted Luffy on the back comfortingly, it taking everything in him to stop himself from bursting into tears. He wanted to stay strong for his little brother though. _

_The sounds of sirens were heard in the distance. Dogura's eyes widened. "Luffy…" _

_Luffy sniffed, reluctantly pulling away from Sabo. "Y… Yeah. I'll miss you… Sabo." _

"_I'll miss you too Luffy. Thank you for everything. Oh, and…. say goodbye to Ace for me." _

"_Y… yeah." _

_With that Dogura bolted down the stairs, Luffy following after him. He glanced back once at Sabo before going out of the front door of the mansion. There, Bluejam was on the ground, unconscious, Ace standing over him, Dadan a little bit away looking not much better than Bluejam. She looked up at Dogura and Luffy. "There you are! We need to go!" _

_Ace looked between the two worriedly. "Where's Sabo?" _

_Luffy sniffed. "S… Sabo can't come with us. He… He said he didn't want to cause us any more trouble."_

_Ace's eyes widened. He glared at Luffy. "And you just accepted that?! Sabo's our brother, we can't just leave him here!" _

"_Ace…" Dogura sighed. "It… It's for the best. It's just not possible for us to take Sabo away from his family, even if that is what's best for him." _

_The blaring of the police sirens was getting louder. Dadan glared at Dogura, Ace and Luffy. "Listen, we can talk about this later, but we seriously need to get the hell out of here! **Now!**" _

_With that, a couple of Dadan's workers helped her to her feet and began running towards the mansions front gate. Dogura and Luffy followed. Ace glanced back at the mansion, his eyes widening at the sight of a familiar face in one of the windows. _

_Sabo waved at Ace once before turning around and disappearing from his brother's sight. Ace sighed before turning around, following Dogura and Luffy. _

"_Goodbye… Brother." _

_######_

_**Dear Ace**_

_**By the time you read this letter, I'll be long gone**_

_**I've decided I'm going to run away from home. You were right, I can't live this way. I want to be free. **_

_**To do that I need to get far away from father and my family, so I'm going to leave this city. If you don't mind, I've borrowed enough money from our treasure chest to buy a train ticket. I don't know where I'll go, I guess I'll decide that when I reach the station. **_

_**Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for showing me what it means to be free. This summer I've spent with you and Luffy has been the best time of my life. I'll miss you both so much and I hope one day we'll meet again.**_

_**Oh, and that reminds me, about Luffy…. **_

_**He may be a lot weaker than us, and he may be a crybaby, and sure he can be stupid some times, and a little annoying…**_

_**But he's our little brother.**_

_**So look after him for me.**_

_**Thank you for everything,**_

_**Sabo**_

_Ace bit his lip, trying his very hardest to hold back his tears. Luffy on the other hand was making no such effort, wailing freely besides him. When he saw this, Ace could no longer hold back. He fell to the his knees. _

_And the two brothers cried together._

**So ends the backstory. I don't know how much you guys like reading it, but I loved writing it. I just found the whole story of Luffy, Ace and Sabo so emotional in the anime, so I really wanted to included it in the story. **

**Btw, a couple of people were surprised that Luffy, Ace and Sabo wanted to be pirates. And I dunno, like, is it really weird for little kids to want to be pirates? I didn't think so, but I dunno now...**

**So yeah, as always, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. We'll be back to the other characters next chapter. **


	4. A Surprise Visitor

**As always, thanks so much for all your fantastic reviews. I can tell you guys weren't really happy with the flashback chapters, but you still stayed positive, and I really appreciated that, so thanks! **

Luffy sniffed. "Grandpa came to the farm the next day and took me and Ace home. We never saw Sabo again. Well, until…'

With that, Luffy burst into tears, Sabo once again resting a comforting hand on his little brother's shoulder. "There there… I'm back now. For good."

"But your parents…"

"They left town years ago. They never found me, and even if they did, now that I'm an adult they can't touch me."

With that Luffy threw his arms around Sabo, tackling his big brother into a hug. Nami frowned, partially due to jealousy at the fact that Luffy never hugged her like that, but mostly for another reason… "So where did you go?"

Sabo looked up at Nami as he rubbed Luffy's back. "Huh?"

"In the letter you said you were going to buy a train ticket. Where did you end up?"

"I went to a few places actually. I eventually was taken in by someone though in a certain town."

Nami, not liking how vague Sabo was being, decided to prod further. "Who?"

"Just someone."

Suddenly Luffy looked up. "But where did you go Sabo? Did you ever actually become a pirate?"

Sabo laughed. "No, I never quite made it that far. I'm actually a trainee teacher now. I'm gonna be learning from a few of the teachers here. As for where I went? I don't suppose you two have ever heard of a place called Ohara, have you?"

######

Law frowned as he entered the classroom. There was something familiar about the man in front of him, his new teacher. He was tall with blonde hair, with a tattoo over his eyes and mouth. There was no doubt about it. This man looked very similar to Doflamingo.

The teacher, realising by now that Law was studying him, stood up. "Hello. I'm Mr Corazon."

"Trafalgar Law."

"Hn. Sit down."

Law complied, taking his usual seat next to Kid, who scowled at him as he sat down. "What was that?"

"This teacher…." Law whispered, not wanting Mr Corazon to hear. "He looks a lot like Doflamingo."

"So?"

Law blinked before remembering that Kid didn't know who Doflamingo really was. To him it probably just seemed like Doflamingo had moved town and had been replaced. "It's nothing, just kind of weird, that's all."

Kid yawned. "Whatever. Say, did you hear about what happened earlier?"

"No. What happened?"

"Some new kid was picking fights outside. He seems like a real jackass."

"Huh. He tough?"

Kid snorted. "Nah, he seems like the kind who'll only pick on people weaker than him and then crap his pants at the thought of an actual challenge."

Law nodded. The two sat there in silence for a bit, Law's mind drifting back to Vergo. Kid frowned. "Are you OK dude?"

"Hm? Yeah, why?"

"You seem kind of… distracted."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just worried about our final year I guess," Law lied. Kid laughed.

"What does a genius like you have to worry about? You'll pass easily. It's idiots like me who should be worried."

Law smirked slightly. "I guess."

######

"R… Rebecca!"

Kyros sprinted through the now busying streets, ignoring the weird looks he was getting, probably because he was a large, heavily muscular man wearing an apron running around outside in public.

He had been attempting to bake a cake for Rebecca to surprise her when she got home from her first day at the new school. It was then that he ran into a problem. He wasn't sure whether Rebecca preferred Chocolate or Strawberry cake.

So naturally, he had tried to call her phone to ask her this oh so important question, but he received no response. After trying a couple of times, he heard a faint ringing sound coming from upstairs, in Rebecca's bedroom. She had left her phone at home.

And so now Kyros was sprinting towards the school, not even taking the time to remove his distinctly feminine apron, to deliver the phone to Rebecca. If she didn't have it, how would she be able to call him if she got into trouble?

He skidded to a halt outside the school. "This is the one, right?" he muttered to himself.

As soon as he entered the building, a bell rung, signalling it was time for the first lesson. All round Kyros, the classrooms were opening and students were filtering into the corridor, most of them somewhat amused by Kyros' unusual attire.

Kyros didn't care though. For all he knew, Rebecca could be in danger already! He had to find her!

######

Zoro scowled as a tearful Luffy took the seat next to him in Math class. "Where the hell were you this morning? And… are you crying?"

Luffy sniffed a couple of times before bursting out into tears. "I'm just so glad to see him again!" he wailed, grabbing Zoro's shirt and blowing his nose in it.

Zoro jerked backwards, glaring at first the mess on his shirt and then at Luffy. "Don't do that! Jeez, this is so disgusting… What are you talking about anyway?"

Before Luffy could reply, the door opened, and in strolled Mr. Aokiji, his eyes immediately resting on Zoro's shirt. "Ugh…. OK, I don't want to know what that is, but I don't want it in my classroom. Go clean yourself up."

Zoro gave Luffy a dirty look before getting up and walking out of the classroom. Mr Aokiji rolled his eyes and closed the door.

Zoro looked down at his shirt, having to pretty much hold back the vomit. He really wanted to get the soiled garment off him, but he couldn't just walk around shirtless.

Incredibly, a solution was literally just around the corner. Standing there, looking totally lost, was a confused Kyros, having no idea how to even begin to figure out where exactly his precious daughter was.

"Excuse me," Zoro called out, attracting Kyros' attention. "I don't suppose I could borrow that apron could I? My shirt got… ruined, so I need to quickly go home and get a new one. I'll bring it back as soon as I'm done."

Kyros winced at the mess on Zoro's shirt before removing the apron and tossing it to Zoro, who took his shirt off and replaced it with the apron. He then threw the soiled shirt in the closest trash can, knowing that even if he washed it, he'd never be able to wear it again. "So are you a new teacher or something?"

Kyros shook his head. "No, I'm just looking for my daughter. She forgot her phone, so I came here to bring it to her."

That seemed a little weird, but Zoro shrugged, figuring he didn't know anything about parenting. "What year's she in?"

Kyros narrowed his eyes. He wasn't gonna let this guy make any moves on his daughter. "Why?"

"If she's in my year she'll have Math now. If she's in the year below, they've got English I think."

"Oh, right. Well if you're a senior, then she'll be in the year below, yes."

Zoro turned around and began to walk off. "She'll have English then. I would give you directions, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. There should be some signs somewhere though."

With that, Zoro went outside, about to head off in the direction of his house before he mentally slapped himself, wondering how he'd missed something so obvious.

How was he supposed to find his way home on his own?

Zoro sighed for a second before pausing. He turned around, although the man from before was gone now. "Don't I recognise that guy from somewhere?"

######

"So," Mr Mihawk began, addressing his elite Math class. "We're going to have a visitor in today's lesson. He's a trainee teacher, and he'll only sit in the back and observe. You don't have to interact with him, he's only here to watch."

Everyone dully nodded, no one really caring that much. That changed however when the door opened and in strolled a grinning Sabo. "Hey!"

Nami, seated next to Robin, scowled. "This guy again…" Yes, she was actually jealous. Robin on the other hand looked shocked.

"Sabo…."

"Oh hey, Robin! It's been a while, huh? Koala was hoping you'd be in this school. She'll be really happy to see you again!"

Nami looked between the two. When Sabo had said he was from Ohara, she didn't think that would mean that he actually knew Robin, but it would seem that it did. "Well that's a weird coincidence… Luffy's older brother just happens to know Robin as well. Am I the only one who doesn't know about this guy?"

Robin blinked. "Luffy's older brother?"

"It's a long story. He'll probably tell you and the rest of the guys at lunch. Or Luffy will. Seeing as he's so happy to see him…"

Sabo stopped next to Nami and Robin's desk. "You know Luffy Robin? That's amazing!"

Robin was about to reply when Mr Mihawk cleared his throat. "If we're quite done… I would like to start the lesson."

Sabo jokingly gulped, further pissing off Mr Mihawk, before heading to take his seat at the back of the classroom. "Apologies Sir."

Mr Mihawk rolled his eyes. He could definitely see how this guy was a relation of Luffy's.

######

"Excuse me, Rebecca!"

Rebecca turned around to see her homeroom teacher, Violet hurrying towards her. 'Oh Miss! Hi!"

Violet smiled kindly at her niece, before catching herself, remembering she had to keep their relationship professional. Rebecca didn't know she was her aunt after all. "Uhm, I was just wondering how you've found the school so far. I know we're only at Lunch on the first day, but still…"

Rebecca laughed. "It's really nice. The people here are very friendly, especially our class. Those two boys are really funny, huh?"

Violet giggled, figuring she was referring to Bartolomeo and Cavendish, who had spent the entire half an hour before lesson 1 hurling insults at each other from across the classroom whilst the rest of the class tried but failed to ignore them. Still, they had nothing on Zoro and Sanji. They were about to say something when they heard voices coming from around the corner.

"Could I please have your autograph?"

"I can't believe someone this famous is at our school!"

Rebecca and Violet looked at each other before turning the corner. In front of him were about ten boys or so, crowding around a familiar face. Violet gasped and ducked back around the corner, although Rebecca didn't notice as she was too busy staring, appalled, at the man in the middle of the crowd. "Dad?"

Kyros' eyes lit up at the sight of his daughter. He squirmed out of the grasp of the boys. "Oh Rebecca! I've been looking everywhere for you!" He dug into his pocket and produced her phone. "Here, you left this at home. I was trying to call you, but I couldn't reach you because obviously you didn't have this! Although I can't remember why I was calling you now… Oh yeah, what flavour cake do you want me to make?"

Rebecca was about to reply when a voice came from behind her.

"No way! It really is Kyros!"

Standing behind her was Sanji, Law and Kid, with Usopp and Chopper a little bit further behind. Kid and Law were smiling admiringly at Kyros, whilst Sanji was having a hard time deciding who he liked more between Rebecca and her father.

Usopp blinked. "Who's Kyros?" He whispered to Chopper. The smaller teen shrugged, but Kid heard.

"Kyros used to be a professional soccer player. But not just any player. He's the country's record goalscorer and probably our best every player!"

Law ripped a page out of his Math book, something which Mr Mihawk wouldn't have approved of. "Could I please have your autograph sir?"

"Me too! er… please." an excited Kid asked.

"Uh… yes, of course…" Kyros replied, quickly signing the items. He turned around to address his daughter again, but she was long gone by this point. "Rebecca?"

######

Violet gasped. She was out of sight of Kyros now, thank god, but this had serious implications for her. Kyros knew her! Not just that, but as far as he knew, she was dead. If he ever saw her…

"Yo Miss!"

Violet was pulled from her thoughts by the sight of a happy looking Bartolomeo approaching her. "Bartolomeo! Hi!"

"You wouldn't happen to know which way the cafeteria is, would you? I'm hoping that I can eat at the same table as Lu… As L…. As Luf….."

Violet blinked. She still had no idea who it was that Bartolomeo seemed to admire so much to the point that he couldn't even bring himself to say his name. "Uhm, yes, it's just over in that direction. I was heading over there myself actually with… Rebecca!"

That was right, she had to leave Rebecca to get away from Kyros. She hoped that she didn't get suspicious of her. The last thing she wanted was for Rebecca to be a little scared of her. Bartolomeo looked around. "Where is she?"

"Huh?"

"Rebecca. You said you were with her."

"I was, but then we got separated. It's fine, let's just go to the cafeteria."

Bartolomeo blinked as Violet began walking off, it now his turn to wonder why his teacher was acting so weird.

######

"Robin!" Koala squealed, tackling the older girl into a hug.

The dark haired teen had been sitting down for lunch with Nami, Franky and Brook, waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive when Sabo had entered the cafeteria, leading a giddy Koala behind him.

"It's been such a long time!" Koala babbled, still clutching onto Robin tightly. Said girl smiled.

"Well, a year…"

"It feels like way longer."

Nami looked at Sabo, who was standing at the edge of the table, looking around for a sign of his little brother. It was strange for him to be anywhere but the cafeteria at lunch after all. "So how exactly do you two know Robin?"

"We used to go to the same school," Sabo replied, although he wasn't looking at her, still searching for Luffy. "I didn't really know Robin that well since I was, I think, five years above her? But Koala's just one year junior to her, so they knew each other a lot better."

Robin smiled sadly. "Koala was one of the few people that was kind to me and didn't judge me because of… you know. Well, Koala and Sabo of course."

Sabo sighed. "To be honest, I didn't know much about you when I was a student there, Robin. It's only after I left school that you and Koala became closer. If I'd known more when I was actually there, I would have tried to make it easier for you."

Nami nodded slowly, thinking it may be best to change the subject. "Where is everyone?"

Just then the door swung open and in came Kid, Law, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper. The latter three separated from the the other two and made their way to the table. "Sorry we're late," Sanji apologised. "There's this really famous guy here, and-"

"Don't care," Nami interrupted. "Where are Luffy and Zoro?"

Sanji blinked. "I haven't seen Moss head since we were with Mr Shanks in the morning. As for Luffy… Yeah, I don't know either."

######

Luffy frowned at the sight in front of him. sitting on the ground next to his locker was a very upset looking pink haired girl. "Um… are you OK?"

Rebecca, genuinely not noticing Luffy, looked up. She quickly got to her feet and moved out of the way. "Oh, sorry, is this your locker?"

Luffy flashed her his signature toothy grin, bringing a small smile to her face. "Yeah, but it's fine. I'm glad that you're smiling now."

"Yeah. Thanks uh…"

Luffy grinned and held his hand out to her. "I'm Monkey D Luffy."

Rebecca smiled, taking the hand. "I'm Rebecca."

Luffy was about to say something when the two teens heard the sound of heavy panting. They turned around to see Kyros standing there, bent over slightly, looking like he needed to catch his breath. "R… Rebecca! Th… There you… are!"

Rebecca pouted and turned away from her father. "What do you want?"

Kyros' heart sunk. He hated it when Rebecca was in a bad mood with him. It was literally the only thing that could upset him. "Please don't be angry. I only wanted to give you your phone…"

Rebecca held her hand out, taking the object. "OK, well I have it now. So can you please go home. It's really weird for you to be here. It's kind of embarrassing…"

Kyros turned his around, his shoulders slumped now. Rebecca was upset with him, that was his day, no week, ruined. He was so upset that he didn't even register the fact that Rebecca was with a boy, something he had forbade. Luffy watched as the now depressed Kyros trudged away. "Is that your dad?"

"Yeah. You know… I think I'll have to apologise to him when I get home. He was only trying to be helpful. That's what dads do I guess…"

Luffy shrugged. "If you say so. I never knew mine."

Rebecca blinked. "Huh?"

Luffy grinned, slamming his locker door shut and punching both fists in the air. "Yosh! Food time! You wanna come Rebecca?"

"Uh, yeah sure, but what was that about your dad-"

Before she could finish the question Luffy grabbed her hand and began pulling her in the direction of the cafeteria.

**Pretty hectic chapter there tbh. Lots of stuff happening, so I hope it didn't make for too difficult reading. **

**As always, thank so much for reading and please do leave a review if you can. I'm really happy with how many reviews I've been getting and I really want to keep that up.**


	5. SMILE

**Hey Guys. Beautiful Sunday today. **

**I'm really glad that everyone pretty much enjoyed the last chapter. This chapter's pretty similar, so hopefully this will go down equally well. **

The cafeteria door swung open, revealing a grinning Luffy, Rebecca in tow. Sanji looked up. "Well that's solved the mystery of where he is. Although he's with that beautiful girl from before. Are you concerned?"

Nami shrugged. "Knowing Luffy, he probably hasn't even registered that she's a girl yet."

Sabo blinked. "Oh… are you Luffy's girlfriend?"

Nami smiled smugly. "Yep."

Sabo grinned. "Wow. I always thought Luffy put his stomach above girls."

"He does," Usopp truthfully replied. "Their relationship is kind of unique."

Nami glared at him. "Is not!"

Everyone bar Sabo and Koala gave Nami an 'are you serious?' look, causing the orange-haired girl to pout. "Whatever. Besides, even if Luffy is here, that doesn't explain where Zoro is!"

######

Zoro yawned loudly. He looked first to the left. Then to the right. Then backwards. Then finally forwards again. It was settled.

He had absolutely no idea where he was.

He figured that trying to find his way home on his own was probably a bad idea, but he still thought he should try. Why he thought that he didn't quite know, and it seemed like a pretty foolish decision now, seeing as he was currently standing out in public wearing nothing but a somewhat feminine apron over his top half, hopelessly lost.

Luckily for him, at that moment a car pulled up to next to him. The window rolled down to reveal a highly amused looking Ace. "Do I want to know the story behind this?"

"If you do, you should ask your dumbass little brother…" Zoro grumbled. Ace laughed.

"Oh, so this was Luffy? You know that was actually my first thought. I assume you're headed home, right? Although you're nowhere near your house. Literally."

Zoro blushed slightly. "I figured. Can you take me?"

Ace jerked his thumb backwards, gesturing towards the back seat. "Hop in! I'm having a pretty boring day anyway."

Zoro did so and Ace started driving. "So how was the first day of school? How far did you make it anyway?"

"The beginning of the first lesson." Zoro scowled. "There seem to be a few new kids around though. Luffy's acting weird too…"

"Wait, weirder than normal?"

"Yep. He was crying, babbling something about seeing someone again."

"Huh. I wonder who it is."

Zoro slumped down in his seat. "It better be someone pretty damn special considering what he did…. So how's work? This is your first day back, right?"

Ace shrugged. "Same old, same old. Lot of paperwork. I'm on lunch now. Fancy getting a bite to eat on the way back to school?"

"Sure, sounds good."

"Cool. We're nearly here."

Ace turned onto Zoro's street, stopping right next to Zoro's house. After waiting a few minutes for Zoro to get changed, the green haired teen re-entered the car. "What's the time?" he asked.

Ace waved his hand dismissively. "Half one. You still have ages till lessons start, don't worry."

"Jeez…" Zoro muttered as Ace started driving. "I can't believe I missed the whole morni- Wait a second…. That guy was Kyros!"

Ace nearly crashed his car. "Kyros! Where?!"

"At school, he was the one who gave me the… Oh shit, I have Kyros' apron!"

"Seriously? Damn, do you reckon he's still there? I'd love to get his autograph! He's the guy I've always tried to play like after all!"

"I have Kyros' apron…" Zoro repeated.

"I wonder how much that thing would be worth if you sold it?"

"Sell it? I'm gonna frame it."

With that, lunch was forgotten, the car instead speeding full speed towards the school, both Ace and Zoro desperate to catch Kyros.

######

"What the hell?" Cavendish muttered to himself, looking over to the right, in the direction of what was genuinely the loudest and busiest table. And in the middle of the table was the goofily grinning Luffy scoffing down his third lunch. Around him Nami and the rest of his friends were sitting, along with Sabo, Koala, Rebecca, Kid and Law. Luffy was the centre of attention though.

And that seriously pissed Cavendish off. What was so special about this Straw Hat kid? Why was everyone crowding around him? At his old school, that was him, and he had much better table manners than Luffy did.

Just then the door of the cafeteria swung open, revealing a beaming Bartolomeo. "LUFFY!" he cried, running towards the busy table. Luffy laughed.

"Hey Barto!"

Cavendish scowled. "So this is the guy that Bartolomeo jerk was talking about earlier. Does everyone look up to him then? Either way, I'm not gonna let this idiot steal **my** popularity…"

With that, the blonde stood up, kicking his chair under the able with a loud thud, expecting the cafeteria to go silent. That didn't happen though, everyone completely ignoring him. This only pissed Cavendish off more. "Hey, you! Straw Hat!"

Luffy stopped eating, at last looking up from his food. He was about to respond when Bartolomeo stood between them. "Oi Cabbage! Don't talk to Lu… to L… to LUFFY like that!"

"Shut up, I'll sort you out later! It's you, Straw Hat, who's been pissing me off more! Let's settle this now!"

Luffy blinked. "Huh?"

Cavendish cracked his knuckles over dramatically. "That's right! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Luffy just stared at him before turning to Nami. "Who is this guy?"

Nami shrugged. "I… don't know."

Sanji nodded. "Neither do I."

"Ditto," Usopp agreed.

A vein popped on Cavendish's forehead. "No, you don't know me! I'm new here!"

"So what problem could you possibly have with Straw Hat-ya then?" Law asked.

"You should all be crowded around **me**. Not this guy!"

For a second everyone just stared blankly at Cavendish. Nami frowned. "Uh… And why is that exactly…?"

"Because **I'm** stronger, and cooler, and more **handsome** than he is! I'm better than him in every single way!"

Everyone stared blankly at Cavendish for a second before turning around and returning to what they were doing before Cavendish stood up, acting as if it had never happened. Cavendish glared at them. "Hey don't ignore me!"

Suddenly Luffy grinned. "Hey, if you want, you can come sit with us… uh… Cabbage, right?"

"Right," Bartolomeo nodded. Cavendish glared first at Luffy and then at him.

"No, not right! My name is Cavendish, not freaking Cabbage!"

"Look, do you wanna sit with us or not Cabbage?" Nami asked, beginning to lose patience with the seriously agitated Cavendish.

"It's Cavendish! And I'm not sitting with you until you get Straw Hat to beat it!"

Sanji shrugged. "Whatever. Suit yourself."

And so Luffy remained at the table and Cavendish stormed off in a huff. Looked like his attempt to assert his popularity had failed.

######

Violet looked quickly behind her, having to make absolutely sure that there was no one watching her. This was the reason she'd gotten this job at the school. To continue Joker's work.

What no one, not even principal Akainu, knew about the school was that the arrest of Caesar Clown last school year wasn't the end of the candy incident. Candy wasn't even the main product Caesar was hired to produce, that was just a side project of his. The reason why Doflamingo had gotten Caesar a job in the school in the first place was so that he could construct the SMILE factory.

A secret state of the art laboratory set up by Caesar Clown existed in what had been a cellar used as a bomb shelter many years ago under the school. With Doflamingo covering for him, Caesar had moved all the equipment there in the brief time he was a teacher in the school. Even after he'd been arrested, Doflamingo had been able to continue producing SMILE in the underground laboratory.

But what was SMILE? It was an illegal Performance enhancing drug, making athletes much stronger and quicker than humanly possible. Violet didn't know why exactly Doflamingo needed it, but she figured it would be worth a lot considering it's effectiveness. She thought it was probably the best performance enhancing drug in existence.

So Caesar had been producing SMILE in his secret factory for months until he'd been discovered by one of the students, Trafalgar Law. He knew Doflamingo was behind Caesar, but had no idea of the whereabouts of the SMILE factory, although he probably suspected that such a laboratory did exist. Violet knew she'd have to keep an eye out for him, but as long as she was careful, he would have no reason to suspect her, or that the SMILE factory was in fact inside the school itself.

Upon entering the underground Lab, Violet's first reaction was surprise at the size. She had expected it to be a small room, but it was in fact probably as big as two regular sized Science classrooms. For Violet, a trained chemist, it wasn't difficult for her to locate and prepare all the ingredients required for the synthesis of SMILE. Therefore she was in and out of the lab within around twenty minutes, still just over ten minutes of lunch break remaining.

######

The cafeteria door swung open, revealing a panting Ace and Zoro. "Is he here?"

A quick scan of the cafeteria by Zoro confirmed that Kyros was long gone. He sighed. "No. Sorry man."

But Ace was no longer interested in Kyros. His eyes were fixed on someone else. Zoro blinked, not understanding why Ace was staring wide-eyed at what looked like a new teacher. "Ace?"

"Sabo…"

Sabo smiled. 'It's been a while, huh? Long time no see… brother."

For a second Ace was motionless, not sure if this was even real or not. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and stormed up to Sabo. He grabbed the trainee teacher by his collar. "Where the hell have you been?! Do you any idea how lonely Luffy and I were?! How could you just leave without saying goodbye to us?!"

Sabo smiled slightly, knowing Ace wasn't really angry at him. "I did say goodbye… at the mansion that day. And I know you and Luffy weren't lonely… because you have each other."

Ace gulped, feeling tears starting to well up in his eyes. He released Sabo, who put his hand on his shoulder. "Do you wanna go grab a coffee? I don't have any lessons this afternoon. And I'd love to catch up with you."

Ace sniffed. "You're paying. Jerk."

Sabo laughed. "Of course. I've really missed you. Both of you."

Luffy grinned as Sabo and Ace, who was trying desperately not to cry, walked out of the cafeteria, past a dumbfounded Zoro. He looked at Luffy and the others. Besides Luffy, Nami and Koala, the others looked equally confused. "What just happened?"

"Yeah, who was that guy Luffy?" Sanji asked.

Luffy grinned, leaning back in his chair. "He's my Big Brother!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "No, not Ace. Who was the teacher guy?"

"Yeah, he's my other Big Brother!"

Everyone blinked, thoroughly confused. Nami sighed. "It's a long story. Now that Zoro's turned up at last, we can finally tell it. Where've you been anyway?"

Zoro blushed slightly, knowing that Nami and Sanji especially would find the story of how he spent the morning very amusing. "No… nowhere. So about this teacher guy?"

######

Robin's final lesson of the day was chemistry, although she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to focus on anything at this point.

It had been a hell of a first day back, especially considering how action packed yesterday had been. Seeing Sabo and Koala again had been a huge shock, but that was nothing compared to then finding out that Sabo was Luffy's 'big brother'. While all this was going on, Robin had also noticed a lot of new students and teachers, which was honestly a little unsettling for her. It seemed childish, but thinking back to the memory of the final day last year, Robin had honestly hoped that things would just remain the same.

Nami nudged her. "Hey, you ok?"

Robin nodded unconvincingly. "Yes, I'm fine. Why?"

"You look like you're not really paying attention," Nami whispered, although the teacher hadn't noticed her talking. She was too preoccupied by someone else.

Violet had really been hoping that she wouldn't have to teach Trafalgar Law. He was the one student who she had to be careful about and sure enough he was in one of her classes. And not just any class, since this was her senior class, it was both the smallest class in terms of the number of pupils and the one she taught the most. Violet shook her head, knowing that as it stood he had no reason to suspect her and as long as she didn't screw up that would stay the same. "So… Can anyone tell me what functional group a Carboxylic Acid has? Trafalgar?"

Violet mentally slapped herself. Why did she do that? Didn't she just resolve to try to avoid Law as much as possible? Said boy blinked. "Uh… It's COOH, right?"

Violet nodded. "Right. Well done." _"Keep calm…"_

The new teacher glanced up at the clock. She still had twenty minutes before the end of the day. Teaching the most advanced Chemistry class was difficult, they finished all the work she had planned on giving them in half the time she had anticipated, so now she had literally nothing planned. Violet laughed nervously, deciding that maybe she should just be honest. "Well everyone… To be honest, I didn't realise you'd all be so good. We've done all the material I planned on covering today in record time. Unless there's something in particular you want to ask me about…."

Law perked up. For a second he contemplated whether it would be a good idea to ask, but when no one else put their hand up, he decided he may as well. "Miss?"

"Yes Trafalgar?"

"I don't suppose you've heard of a substance called 'SMILE', have you?"

Law had overheard Caesar mention SMILE once before. He didn't know what exactly it was, but he knew it was more important to him than Candy, which had been devastating enough on it's own. He dreaded to think what SMILE could be given that. Violet gulped slightly, although thankfully no one noticed. "Uh… I'm sorry… I don't believe I've ever heard that name before…"

Nami looked at Law. "Where did you hear it?"

Law shook his head dismissively. "I think I saw it in the news or something. I was just wondering."

Violet gritted her teeth. Just how much did Law know?

#######

Sabo glanced out of the window of the coffee shop Ace had taken him to, at last done talking. What followed was silence, Ace processing the huge load of information he'd just heard. He hadn't seen Sabo in twelve years after all, there was a lot to say.

Outside it was raining heavily now, a stark contrast to the bright promising morning. Sabo smiled slightly. "You know, I was actually really surprised by what I saw today…"

"Oh?"

Sabo nodded. "Back then, you and I were the two cool, super strong, awesome brothers. Luffy was a weak, goofy kid who could only trail after us. But now… I've only been here one day, but I can see that almost all of the students look up to and respect Luffy. You should have seen it Ace, everyone seems to just gravitate towards him."

Ace chuckled. "You know, I used to worry about Luffy. He could never find any friends his age, so he just followed me around for so long. I thought people might reject Luffy because he's so different from normal. But I was wrong."

Ace smiled, the image of Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook coming to mind. "He found himself a wonderful group of friends."

Sabo smiled too, leaning back in a satisfied manner. "I'm glad for him. So what about you?"

Ace blinked. "Huh?"

"Well you appear to be a cop from the looks of it. Not surprising, you always were the toughest guy I knew. But I wanna know more."

"Such as what exactly?"

Sabo smirked devilishly. "Tell me, is there a Mrs. Ace around yet? I mean, if Luffy has a girlfriend, you must have one too, right…"

"That's none of your business! What about you?"

Sabo shrugged. "Nah, I'm too busy with work generally, plus looking after Koala of course."

Ace rolled his eyes, him still kind of pissed off that Sabo had a new little sister. Suddenly, Ace frowned. "Wait. You're 22."

"Uh… yeah. We are the same age."

"You've only been an adult for four years. Who looked after you and Koala before that? And how do you have enough money to support both of you?"

"Uh… that's not important, is it? Anyway, we should probably get going, huh? Luffy'll be finishing school about now, so if we rush home, maybe we can go out together, the three of us. Garp can come along too if he wants, as can Luffy's girlfriend if she's free. I still can't believe he actually found a girl who can put up with him…"

Ace frowned, following Sabo in standing up. Sabo was obviously hiding something, but Ace decided against pressing him further. He trusted his brother, and he figured he had a good reason for withholding the information.

But that didn't stop him wondering what that reason was.

######

"Trafalgar."

Law turned around, smirking at the sight of Robin approaching. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

Chemistry had just finished, meaning it was the end of the day, and Robin, after quickly visiting her locker, had hurried to Law's locker. "What was that earlier? SMILE?"

Law shrugged dismissively. "I said, didn't I? Just something I heard on the news, nothing important."

"Trafalgar. Don't lie to me."

Law sighed. How is it that Robin could read him like a book? "Listen… I don't think you wanna know. Straw Hat-ya told me the news about your dad. It seems like you're finally safe from danger, so the last thing you need is to get involved in this."

Robin frowned. "Don't say that. If you're struggling with something, you should talk to other people. I want to help you. I can see you're troubled, and you've been that way for a long time now…"

Law turned around and began to walk off. "I know that in the end, nothing ever happened between us. But if things had been a little different, and there wasn't something so special between you and Roronoa, you and I would have ended up together. Because there was something between us. I really care about you, and I'm not gonna do anything to put you in danger, Robin. That's why you have to stay out of this…"

Robin watched silently as Law stepped out into the first rain of the autumn, wondering desperately what she could do to help him.

#######

"This boy is dangerous. He knows about SMILE. I think it would best if you… eliminated him."

Silence. Violet waited for a moment, before removing her phone from her ear, making sure that she hadn't accidentally hung up. She hadn't, Vergo was still there, purposefully saying nothing. "Hey!"

"Is that so…"

"Yes. It's only a matter of time before he starts investigating, and if he catches me…"

Vergo released a slow audible sigh. "Joker hasn't given me permission to deal with Trafalgar Law yet. He said to wait for when the time was right."

Violet glared at the phone, although Vergo obviously couldn't see this. "I don't care what that bastard has given you permission to do! Your job is help me do my job, and this boy is a serious threat to me! Vergo!"

There was no response, the sound of the dial tone meeting Violet's ears. Vergo had hung up. Violet groaned frustratedly before heading back into the school, remembering she'd left some work that needed marking in her classroom. She was so distracted that she hadn't noticed someone listening in on her…

Nami, who had been waiting for Luffy at his locker, had been more than a little alarmed when she heard someone say 'I think it would be best if you eliminated him'. I mean, there weren't many alternate meanings that phrase could have. The voice was been coming from outside, but Nami could hear it clearly since Luffy's locker was right next to the school's main entrance.

Nonetheless, Nami moved towards the main entrance, her curiosity getting the better of her. A quick glance through the transparent doors revealed that the voice belonged to her new Chemistry teacher. Luckily, her back was to Nami, so she couldn't see her. When Violet had eventually hung up, Nami had ducked into a bathroom nearby, Violet not seeing her.

"Vergo…" Nami muttered to herself. "Where have I heard that name before…?"

**As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it was quite a busy one. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you can. **


	6. An Old Friend

**Hey Guys. Hope you're all having a good weekend as always. To be honest, after a great Saturday I'm having the shittiest Sunday, but whatever. Anyway, welcome back to the story. I reckon I'll be able to get another two chapters done after this one before I'll have to take a break for exams, so heads up on that. **

**As always, big thanks for the reviews. We got quite a few for the last chapter, which is always nice. Just keep it up guys, that's really all I can say. **

Thankfully, things cooled down after the first day, and the first full week of the school year passed without much further incident.

Whenever Luffy wasn't in school, he was with Ace and Sabo, the three brothers clearly making up for lost time. Whether that was going out for dinner, the cinema, or even just wandering around, the activity didn't matter. Luffy, Ace and Sabo wanted to spend every moment they could together.

This, however, wasn't exactly agreeable for Zoro and the others, with Nami in particular not happy with the fact that she was being somewhat neglected by Luffy. Even during breaks at school, Luffy was with Sabo! Robin tried to comfort her, saying she was sure that this was only temporary, and eventually there would be more balance in time Luffy allocated to his brothers and then his friends, but honestly she wasn't completely sure of this. Ever since she had first come to the school, the nine of them had been inseparable, this was the first time Luffy, or any of the group, had drifted away, aside from the incident in the summer of course.

Speaking of Nami, she was still unable to quite remember why the name Vergo seemed familiar. In reality, she had heard the name once during the summer, when Law beat up Mr 3, mistaking him for then one known as Vergo, but Nami couldn't recall this incident, so who Vergo was remained a mystery to her. She had asked Zoro, Robin and the others but they had no idea what she was talking about. Unfortunately, asking Law never occurred to her.

The school's new additions, both pupils and students, were also beginning to settle in. Bartolomeo wasn't really able to worship Luffy since he was always with Sabo, but he was for the most part content with worshipping Luffy's friends. Pretty much everyone bar Robin found him annoying as hell, but Robin always pleaded with them to be nice to him, and everyone always listened when Robin asked for something since she barely ever asked for anything. Cavendish was still sitting alone at lunch, hell bent on getting 'revenge' against Luffy, although he also spent a lot of time bickering with Bartolomeo.

Then there was Rebecca, who got on well with everyone really. She found herself spending quite a bit of time with Nami and Robin actually, the two treating her a lot like a little sister. In terms of new students, that left Bellamy as the only notable one not mentioned. And honestly, that's because there was nothing worth mentioning. He had only been seen maybe briefly in the corridor since that first day and hadn't caused any more trouble. Which was actually a little unsettling, since Bellamy practically screamed trouble.

In terms of teachers, the almost silent Mr Corazon had pretty seamlessly filled in for Mr Doflamingo. Law didn't trust him though. There was something eerily similar between him and Doflamingo.

Which leaves Violet, who was feeling a lot more secure after that first day. It would be impossible to stumble upon the SMILE factory by accident, and the only people who knew it's location were Joker, Caesar and herself. All she had to do was keep an eye on Law and she'd be fine. Honestly, she spent more time worrying about Rebecca than she did about SMILE though. She wanted so much to get to know her niece properly, and to spend genuine quality time with her, but she just couldn't do that from the position of a teacher. It was so frustrating, but Violet was determined to find a way.

######

"Go Luffy!" Nami cheered from the sidelines.

Luffy grinned, flashing her a thumbs up. It was Friday lunchtime, Soccer training. But since it was the first training session of the year, the regular session also doubled up as a trial. Luffy was in the team of course, the team's star player and captain, but the new students, including Bartolomeo who was already an accomplished player himself, needed to earn their place.

Robin smiled at her best friend. "You seem in a good mood…"

Nami grinned. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm finally able to be with Luffy without Sa-"

"Go Luffy!"

Nami and Robin turned in the sound of the new cheering voice. Sabo was standing about ten metres away from them, waving at Luffy. The dark haired teen's eyes lit up, and he abandoned his position in goal to scurry over to his older brother. Zoro, who like Luffy was already in the team, jogged over to Nami and Robin. "You know, Luffy didn't run up to you when you cheered for him…" he teased.

Nami, her pleasant mood gone, whacked Zoro over the head. Said boy looked up at Robin, appealing to his girlfriend for sympathy. She merely shrugged. "I think you asked for that one…"

At this point, Luffy had returned to his goal, with Sabo now walking towards the two girls. "Hey Robin! Nami! Pretty exciting, huh? I've never seen Luffy play, but he must be really good. I mean, he's got a trial with Dressrosa after all!"

Luffy's trial with Dressrosa had originally been scheduled for the end of the summer, but after being badly injured by Crocodile, he hadn't been able to play on the date arranged. Luckily, Dressrosa were very understanding and had postponed his trial for another month, which meant that the trial was two weeks away now.

Robin smiled. "Luffy is very talented. I'm sure that team will be begging him to join."

"Damn straight…" Nami muttered, her eyes fixed on Luffy. Sabo smiled slightly, impressed by how supportive Nami seemed to be.

The trials passed as you would expect. Bartolomeo and Cavendish both made the squad, although Bartolomeo would be back-up keeper to Luffy, which wasn't a role that promised much playtime. He didn't care though, the prospect of training with Luffy week in week out too much for him, him passing out in delight when Luffy told him he made the squad. Most of the guys had been hesitant about Cavendish, thinking he was a bit of a jerk, but Luffy, the captain, had the final say, and he thought Cavendish was a good enough player. He played in Lucci's now vacant position as well, so that was a big bonus.

######

Luffy blinked. "Huh?"

Nami crossed her arms. "You heard me. I want the nine of us to hang out tonight."

For the first time that year, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook were eating lunch together with no one else. The soccer trials had taken up most of the hour, but they still had about twenty minutes. Thus, Nami had taken the opportunity to suggest that the nine spent the evening together.

Luffy shook his head. "Sorry Nami, I can't. Sabo's taking me to an all you can eat buffet, and then we're gonna go see a movie together!"

"But Luffy!" Nami frowned, trying to give Luffy her best pleading look. "You've spent all week with Sabo! Can't you spare us any time?"

Robin winced slightly. "Nami… maybe you should let Luffy spend time with Sabo. They haven't seen each other in so long…"

"Don't tell me you're on his side!"

"I'm not on anyone's side, I just don't see the harm. We can hang out any time…"

'The same applies to him and that brother of his!"

"Nami…"

Nami sighed loudly, seeing that she wasn't going to get any support from Robin. "Fine. Go do what you want."

Luffy grinned, before noticing someone enter the cafeteria. "Hey! Sabo!"

With that, the dark haired teen jumped up from his seat and ran to join his big brother, reducing nine to eight. Sanji eyed Nami nervously, the orange haired girl glaring at Sabo and Luffy across the cafeteria. "Well even if Luffy won't be around, maybe we eight should do something tonight."

Nami puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. "No thanks."

Robin frowned. "Nami…"

Zoro rolled his eyes, not prepared to indulge Nami's sulking. "Fine. The seven of us can do something tonight then. Any good movies on?"

Usopp shook his head. "Not really. I can't think what Luffy and Sabo are going to see…"

Zoro nodded. "Fair enough. That doesn't matter though, we can just watch a regular movie at my place or something."

Sanji smiled. "Right, so it's settled. Moss-head's place tonight then!"

"Just the seven of us," Zoro added,eyeing Nami. Said girl sighed, raising her hand.

"Room for one more?"

Robin giggled. "Of course."

######

"Hey Robin, you ready?"

Robin nodded, shutting her locker door. She was ready for this weekend, the first week of school always exhausting. Nami was waiting for her, the two girls planning to walk home together.

As soon as they stepped outside however, they were greeted by an unpleasant sight. A short, pink haired boy with glasses was backed up against the wall, his nose bloody. Nami and Robin didn't recognise him, meaning he probably didn't go to their school. However they did recognise the one who was responsible for the bloody nose. Standing with his back to them was a cackling Bellamy.

Nami glared at him. "Hey! Leave him alone!"

Bellamy turned around. "Oh? And just what are you two girlies gonna do if I don't!"

"If you even lay a finger on me, Luffy'll kick your ass!"

Bellamy laughed. "I've heard about this Monkey D Luffy! Apparently he's this school's big shot! I can't wait to take him down a peg or two! If you're his girl, then I guess roughing you up a bit would definitely attract his attention, right?"

Nami gulped. She definitely didn't think this through. Bellamy was about to move towards her, when the door opened behind them.

"Don't you dare touch Miss Nami or Miss Robin!"

Robin and Nami turned around to see a pissed off looking Bartolomeo standing there. Bellamy smirked. "Or what?"

"Why don't you come and see?"

Bellamy wasn't one to back down from a challenge, charging at Bartolomeo, who put himself between Bellamy and the girls. Bellamy swung at him, but Bartolomeo easily caught it. Bellamy tried to withdraw his fist, but much to his horror, he couldn't. Bartolomeo had him in a vice grip!

Suddenly, Bartolomeo pulled his foot back and kicked Bellamy hard in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. His back bent over as he clutched his stomach, allowing Bartolomeo to whack him once more over the head, knocking him down for the count. The green haired boy immediately turned to a shocked Nami and Robin.

"Miss Nami! Miss Robin! Are you OK?"

Nami just stared at the unconscious Bellamy. "You just kicked his ass!"

Robin smiled at Bartolomeo. "That was incredibly Mr Birdy!"

Bartolomeo felt himself getting weak at the knees from the praise. He saluted the two girls. "I… It was nothing! I'll protect you both with my life!"

"Th… thank you…"

Bartolomeo turned around to see the pink haired boy from before standing there. The green haired teen had had literally no idea that he had been there. "Oh. No problem."

Nami rolled her eyes, Bartolomeo hadn't intended to help him. Robin, however, looked worriedly at the pink haired boy. "Are you OK?"

He nodded weakly. "Yeah, I'm fine. You know, this reminds me a lot of something that happened when I was a kid actually… "

Nami blinked. "What do you mean?"

The pink haired boy smiled. "That's why I'm here actually. When I was younger, there were these two bullies that always used to pick on me. That all changed when these two guys finally stood up for me. I've come here to look for them, I think this is where they go to school. Actually, you guys may know them…"

"I don't suppose any of you know where I could find Luffy and Zoro, do you?"

######

"Wow!" Bartolomeo gushed, his eyes lighting up. "That's my Luffy!"

The pink haired boy, Coby, had just finished telling Nami, Robin and Bartolomeo the story of how he met Luffy and Zoro, and was still smiling fondly at the memory. The four teenagers were currently sitting on the grass in Nami's front garden. After Bartolomeo had been sent (by Nami of course) to search the school for Luffy and Zoro, they found out that the two boys had already gone home. So, Nami had taken Robin and Coby to her house, with Bartolomeo pleading to be allowed to come too, since he wanted to hear 'the incredible tale of Luffy's bravery'. And to be fair, neither he, nor Nami and Robin had been disappointed.

Sabo looked between Nami and Robin. "Wow. I can't believe of all the people in the school, I just happened to run into their girlfriends. What are the odds, huh?"

Robin smiled. "That's a really nice story."

Nami looked up at the sky. "So that's how those two met…"

Coby smirked. "I lost touch with them when they both left the school, but I always looked up to them. I'm glad to hear they're still amazing people, not that that surprises me of course. To be honest…"

Robin smiled kindly at him. "What is it?"

"I'm kind of nervous to meet them again."

Nami waved her hands dismissively. "You shouldn't be, they're just regular people! Say, why don't we call them now? Although Luffy will be busy with that brother of his…"

Coby blinked, detecting a little bitterness in that last statement. Robin giggled. "I can at least call Zoro. Just one second…"

Robin pulled out her phone, selecting Zoro's number. She held the phone to her ear, smiling encouragingly at the nervous Coby.

"Hello?" Zoro's voice responded.

"Hey. Listen, I have something exciting to tell you."

"Love cook got hit by a bus?"

"What? No. After school today, I ran into an old friend of yours."

"I don't have any old friends."

Robin was about to say Coby's name, before an idea came to her mind. She handed to phone to Coby, who nervously took it. "H-Hello?"

Silence. Coby gulped. "Zoro?"

"Who is this?"

"It's me… Coby."

Silence. Coby frowned. "You know, from kindergarten?"

There was a short pause, before Zoro spoke again. "I think you have me mistaken for someone else…"

"No, don't you remember? Luffy saved me from Alvida, and then you saved me from Morgan!"

"Oh…" At last realisation dawned on Zoro. "You're that kid from before. That's right, Coby was your name, wasn't it? What's up?"

Coby smiled weakly. "Well nothing really… I just wanted to see you again. You and Luffy."

For a second there was silence again. Coby gulped, his request suddenly starting to seem weird to him. He had never been good friends with Zoro and Luffy. Sure, they knew and liked him, but they never actually were proper friends. Zoro didn't even remember him at first! What hope was there of Luffy recognising him!

Fortunately, Zoro's response pleasantly surprised him. "Sure. Although Luffy's busy tonight. We can meet up tomorrow though."

Coby nodded. "Th-thanks! I'll see you then!"

"Yeah, bye."

With that Zoro hung up. Coby breathed a sigh of relief and handed the phone back to a smiling Robin. Nami, however, eyed the pink haired boy carefully. "You know Coby… I don't think you meeting up with Zoro and Luffy is just to reminisce about old times, is it?"

Coby blinked. "How did you know?"

Nami smiled triumphantly. "Just a feeling. I figured there must be a reason you went through so much trouble of actually finding out which school Zoro and Luffy went to."

Coby looked up at the sky. "It's just like before really. I need their help again."

Robin frowned. "Don't tell me that terrible Morgan came back."

Coby shook his head. "No, it's someone else now. Only he's way tougher than Morgan. And he's not a school child, he's an adult…"

Nami stared expectantly at him. "Who is it?"

"His name's Moriah. Gecko Moriah."

######

Vergo couldn't help but admire the house in front of him. Three storeys tall, with a modern design, it looked like the kind of house where a wealthy, but young, stylish, family would live. Honestly, it was the kind of house Vergo himself would have wanted to live in. "So this is where this 'Trafalgar Law' lives…"

It had happened just today actually, the phone call from Joker, giving him instructions to eliminate Law. To be honest, it was actually a relief for Vergo, who had been wanting to get rid of the troublesome pest for a while now, regardless of how calm about it he seemed when talking to Violet. He didn't like to the idea of some schoolboy thinking he would stand a chance against him. Vergo wasn't going to just kill Law. He was going to show him just how big the difference between them was.

Despite Vergo's neutral expression, he was bubbling with excitement inside. He was definitely going to enjoy this.

Joker's hitman effortlessly climbed the wall into Law's back garden. At the back off the house was a glass door, open, presumably to allow the summer breeze to enter. Vergo chuckled, this was gonna be too easy.

Vergo was about to enter when he heard a gun click behind him. He slowly turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of the man sitting on the wall behind him, pointing a gun straight at him.

"R… Rosinante!"

Sitting there was none other than Law's homeroom teacher, Mr Corazon.

**So yeah, a couple of real cliffhangers at the end there. Next chapter should be fun. **

**As always, thanks for reading and please do leave a review if you can. **


	7. Nami's Stalker

**Hey guys, a couple of things before I start the chapter. Firstly, thanks for all the reviews recently. I'm actually amazed by how well this ****story is doing, you guys really are amazing. **

**Secondly, I think I mentioned it last week, but its approaching exam season again, so I'm gonna need to take a break from writing. That means that I think next week's chapter will probably be the last chapter until July maybe. I'm really sorry about that, but it's necessary for me. **

**And thirdly, on a happier note, the crossover story which I mentioned on the last chapter of my Fairy Tail story! I'm really excited to write that, although I'll only finish it after my exams probably, so what I wanted to ask was how interested in that story/chapter would you guys be? Do many of you guys read the Fairy Tail story? **

Law smiled, picking his Math textbook out of his bag. He knew it was Friday, but this was his only homework for the entire weekend, and he figured he could do it in about twenty minutes if he hurried. Plus, seeing as it was so pleasant outside, he figured he may as well make the best of the weather and do it outside. The grass was probably nice and warm.

However the teenager, as you would expect, wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him when he stepped outside. Two intruders were standing there, one of whom was his teacher, Mr Corazon, who just happened to be holding a gun. The other Law didn't recognise. Mr Corazon's eyes widened. "Law!"

With Mr Corazon distracted, Vergo took the opportunity to quickly hurdle over the wall leading into Law's neighbour's house. Corazon cursed, firing a bullet in the direction Vergo ran, which was nowhere near hitting him. It was too late. Vergo was long gone.

Law just stood motionless. Corazon sighed, hopping down from the wall. Law, seeing this, recovered and edged away, taking a defensive stance. "What's going on? Who are you? Who was that? What are you doing here?"

Mr Corazon continued approaching Law, who backed away. Mr Corazon held up his hand, as if to say he meant no harm. "Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have shot you by now, wouldn't I?"

"I… I guess…"

Corazon smirked slightly. "In terms of those questions before…. I'll answer the last one quickly now. What am I doing here? I came here to save your life. And seeing as that bastard's run off with his tail between his legs, I'd say mission accomplished!"

Suddenly, Corazon's face broke into a wide grin, shocking Law. Corazon had literally shown no emotion whatsoever in school, he seemed like a totally different person now. Law continued to eye him cautiously. "And my other questions?"

Corazon sighed. 'They'll take a little longer to explain. May I come in?"

Law stared down Corazon for a couple of seconds, before nodding and stepping aside.

######

Nami suddenly stopped walking, surprising Robin. The two were currently walking together towards Zoro's house.

After telling them the name 'Gecko Moriah', Coby had left, saying he needed to go, with Bartolomeo also leaving. After staying at Nami's for another half an hour or so, Robin had also gotten home to get ready for tonight. After another hour, Robin went back to Nami's house, the two setting off together for Zoro's.

Nami had spent the whole time worrying about what Coby had said. She didn't know who this Gecko Moriah was, but the prospect of the events of the summer happening again terrified her. The last thing she wanted was Luffy, or any of her friends getting in danger.

Robin, knowing what was upsetting Nami, sighed. She placed her hand comfortingly on Nami's shoulder. "Nami… I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Robin… I'm not ready for this to happen again…"

Robin winced slightly, the events of the summer coming back to her. "I know… but we still don't know anything about this person yet. For all we know, he could just be like the person Mr Birdy fought earlier. This doesn't have to be as bad as that."

Nami nodded, although she didn't look convinced. And what was worse was that Robin, who hadn't been too concerned by what Coby had said, was starting to get worried too. Suddenly, both girls really wanted to get to Zoro's house as soon as possible.

######

Vergo opened the door to his apartment. That had been a close one. But he was far from Law's house now, and it didn't seem like he had been followed. Still, what had happened was bad news for him. It meant that he couldn't approach Law in his house, since someone was apparently watching over him. "That troublesome Rosinante… I'll have to tell Joker about this…"

Upon opening the door, Vergo was greeted by silence. This surprised him, seeing as school had ended a couple of hours ago. Should Violet not be here by now? Where could she be…?

Just then, a heavy, impatient, knock sounded on the door. That alone meant Vergo instantly knew it wasn't Violet. Nonetheless, Vergo went to the door, pretty certain it wouldn't be Rosinante or Law.

Honestly, he was pretty startled by the sight of an inanely grinning blonde boy standing in front of him. Vergo could instantly make out a bruise on the back of his head; looked like this kid had been in bit of scuffle. "Can I help you?"

"You're Vergo, right?"

Vergo tensed. In an instant, he had the boy pinned against the wall, although that didn't remove the annoying smirk from his face. "Who are you?"

"The name's…" the boy gasped, Vergo's grip making it a little hard for him to speak. "Bellamy. And don't… worry. Joker…. sent me."

Vergo blinked. Bellamy expected him to release him, but Vergo merely tightened his grip. "I doubt that. Someone as weak as you would be of no interest to him."

"I… It's true…. Just ask…. him…."

Vergo's expression remained neutral as he inwardly contemplated whether to kill Bellamy then and there. However just as he was about to crush Bellamy's windpipe, his phone started buzzing. Without weakening his grip, he removed the object from his pocket with his left hand. "Hello?"

"Hey Vergo!"

Vergo sighed slightly at the familiar voice. "What do you want Dellinger?"

"Hey, why do you sound so annoyed? It's been such a long time since we've talked! So how've you been man!"

Vergo squeezed Bellamy's neck tighter, causing him to choke. "Is there a point to this call?"

Vergo could hear Dellinger huff. "Alright then, have it your way. Listen, the boss is sending some kid to come help you. His name's Bellamy I think…"

Vergo loosened his grip on Bellamy slightly. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. I know he may not seem like much, but the boss wants to give him a chance to fulfil one little job…"

Vergo eyed Bellamy carefully, his hand still around his throat of course. "And what job is that?"

"To eliminate Monkey D Luffy."

######

Violet frowned. What was this uneasy feeling she had?

After school had finished that afternoon and Violet had watched Rebecca get picked up by Kyros, the chemistry teacher couldn't help but feel down. She wanted nothing more than to be with the two, part of the family, which she was! But she couldn't. Because of that man….

Anyway, the thought of instead going home to Vergo made her feel sick, so she'd instead decided to stop somewhere for coffee for twenty minutes, which had quickly become two hours, before deciding that she would probably get in trouble if she stayed out any longer. She didn't trust Vergo, but he didn't trust her either. Violet knew what that man was capable of, and she knew that she didn't want to be on the receiving end of that.

However for the entire walk back, she'd had this weird feeling, like she was being watched. Suddenly, Violet's eyes widened. Could it be… some of Joker's men? It would make sense, they didn't trust her after all…

Suddenly, an even worse thought popped into Violet's mind. Joker was a powerful man, who was likely to have many enemies. What if… it was one of them?

Violet increased her pace, Vergo's apartment starting to feel a lot safer. Suddenly, out of an alleyway in front of her, a man emerged. Violet skidded to halt, aware that there were a couple of men approaching her from behind as well. The man in front of her smirked evilly. "So you're with Joker, huh?"

Violet tensed. Looks like she had been right. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

The man laughed. "Of course you don't. You know, word on the street is that Joker's got a stash of SMILE in this town. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would ya?"

Violet briefly glanced behind her. There was no escape. She put on her best innocent face, smiling kindly at the man in front of her. "I'm sorry, I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

He gulped slightly, instantly feeling infatuated by Violet. Violet inwardly smirked, he had let his guard down. She was about to attack the man in front of her, when someone got to him first.

"Looks like there are three shitty jerks who need to be taught some table manners. I won't forgive anyone who picks on a lady…"

The man in front of Violet turned around. He didn't have time to react before Sanji knocked him out with one kick to the side, sending him crashing against the wall of the building next to the pavement. The two men behind Violet lunged for the woman, but Sanji got between her and them before they reached her, knocking those two out with two further kicks. Violet's eyes widened. Sure, she probably could have handled them, but this boy, who she recognised as a student at the school, had beaten them all without breaking a sweat!

Sanji turned around, his eyes turning to hearts. "Are you OK, Miss?"

Violet blinked, Sanji's perverted grin taking her by surprise. She inwardly rolled her eyes. He only helped her because he was attracted to her. He was barely better than the men he had just beaten up. Nonetheless, Violet smiled politely. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you ever so much for dealing with those thugs. I was so frightened."

Sanji smirked, giving her a thumbs up. "No problem. There's nothing I hate more than people like them. I won't forgive anyone who tries to take advantage of women."

Violet nodded, although she was rolling her eyes so hard in her mind. Was this kid for real? His intentions were just as bad as there's were. He was only doing this to impress her. Which was weird considering the age gap between her and him…

"So Miss… would you like me to walk you home?"

Violet wasn't sure what Vergo's reaction to this boy arriving at the apartment would be. She wouldn't be surprised if he killed him just for the heck of it. And whilst Violet was feeling a strong dislike for this boy, she figured she did owe him for helping her. Plus, disliking someone isn't a good reason to get them killed.

So Violet shook her head. "I'm fine. Thanks again for saving me."

Sanji grinned widely, causing Violet to wince slightly. "Of course! Any time!"

Violet turned around and began to walk off, finally able to roll her eyes now that Sanji couldn't see her. "What a strange kid…" She muttered to herself, too quiet for Sanji to hear.

######

Sabo sighed. What was he supposed to do?

He was currently standing outside the restaurant, excusing himself from the table to answer a call. Luffy didn't mind, obviously. He had an all you can eat buffet to demolish. Although he would mind if he knew who the call was from…

Sabo shook his head. There was no way he could tell Luffy. Not yet. It had only been a week, and he had a whole year to work this whole situation out. Ace was suspicious of him though, which was a problem. That was another thing he had to consider. How would Ace take the news? I mean, the three of them were brothers, that would never change. But Ace and Luffy had always been… real brothers. As far as they knew, they were actual brothers, who shared actual blood.

But that was only as far as they knew.

Garp knew. Sabo wondered how the old man could have raised the two knowing the truth. I mean, surely he must have looked at the two differently, even if it was only slightly. Luffy wouldn't have been perceptive enough to pick up probably, but Ace would have. That would suggest that Garp really had always treated the two the same, which seemed very impressive to Sabo. To be able to keep an illusion like that up for so long. He probably intended to keep it up forever.

Sabo groaned. Did he really have the right to shatter that illusion then? He wasn't sure he did, and sometimes he felt like he didn't even want to. But he was doing this for **his** sake. And **he** did have the right after all. Plus, it wouldn't be right for the two to never know. Ace was an adult, and Luffy was a couple of months away from becoming one. They were no longer children and so should know the truth about their family.

Suddenly, Sabo felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Standing behind him was a grinning Luffy, completely oblivious to the inward struggle that Sabo had just been having. "Sabo! The food's really good here! If you're done, you should come and eat! You'll love it!"

Sabo smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm done. Go back inside, I'll be with you in a second."

Luffy nodded excitedly and went back inside. Sabo looked up at the evening sky.

How would Luffy take the news? Would he even care? He seems so happy, all the time. Why would he want everything to change? Surely he must have been curious though, at least once before. His family was him, his grandpa and his brother. There were some notable absentees in that group. Does he ever think about who they might be?

Sabo opened the restaurant door, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. He didn't have to do this tonight. He had a whole year to deal with this.

######

Zoro frowned, leaning back in the sofa. "Gecko Moriah?"

Usopp looked at Nami. "So who is he?"

Nami shrugged. "I dunno. Coby only gave the name before going. He did say he was an adult though, if that makes a difference."

Zoro pictured Coby, the short, timid boy who used to hide behind him and Luffy. "I wonder how he got in trouble with this guy…"

Nami nodded. "Yeah, he doesn't seem like the kind to go out looking for trouble, does he?"

"Neither am I…" Usopp grumbled. "And that hasn't helped me much…"

Franky laughed, heartily thumping Usopp, who had been totally serious, on the back. "That's a good point!"

Zoro yawned, before scowling at his TV. "Can we just start now? Who cares if Love cook's not here?"

Usopp frowned. "I did want to wait for Sanji… but he is really late."

As if on cue, someone rang the doorbell. Zoro sighed loudly. "Damn. Just when I was starting to think he wouldn't show up…"

Nami rolled her eyes and hopped up from her seat, disappearing into the corridor. She reappeared a couple of seconds later with Sanji, who smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late guys. I got a little sidetracked…"

Usopp shrugged, him and Chopper looking through Zoro's DVD collection. "We figured. What happened?"

Sanji's eyes turned to hearts. "I had to save a beautiful lady from some shitty jerks! She was soooooo impressed, you should have seen it!"

"Oi love cook, remember Hancock?"

Sanji glared at Zoro. "I've lost count of how many times you've used that now!"

"Whatever Dartboard…"

"Shitty Moss head…"

Nami sighed. "This always happens…"

Robin giggled before turning to Usopp and Chopper. "Have you two found anything yet?"

Chopper shook his head. "Not really. We've seen these all before. Zoro doesn't really have a big collection…"

Sanji glanced at his watch. "It's only eight. I reckon the video store will probably be open for another hour or so. If we hurry, we can go there and pick up something we haven't seen before."

Zoro nodded, standing up. "Right. I'll go. I'll be back soon."

"Wait!" Nami, Usopp and Sanji yelled simultaneously, whilst Franky, Brook and Chopper all glared at him.

Zoro scowled at them. "What?"

"Why would you, of all people, be the one to go?" Nami angrily retorted. "You're guaranteed to get lost on the way there!"

"I swear sometimes you're just stupid for the sake of it…" Sanji grumbled.

Nami nodded. "I'll go. You guys all trust me to pick out something good, right?"

Sanji also stood up. "I'll come too. The city can be a little… you know… at this time."

Nami smiled gratefully at Sanji. "Thank you." She then turned to address the others. "We'll be back soon. While I'm gone, Robin's in charge."

Zoro glared at her. "Wait, why her? This is my hou-"

The green haired teen was silenced by a glare from Nami, Zoro forced to silently accept Nami's decision.

"Why does he even bother arguing?" Usopp whispered to Chopper, who merely shrugged.

"Dunno. Nami always wins."

######

Sanji's eyes turned to hearts. Entering a club opposite the video store was a crowd of around 10-15 girls, all 10/10s in Sanji's eyes.

Without even noticing it, Sanji floated towards them, leaving Nami, who hadn't noticed what Sanji was staring at, alone. She continued to walk through the street back towards Zoro's house, oblivious to the fact that her companion was gone.

Sanji, of course being 17, was denied entrance to the club. After angrily arguing with the bouncer for a couple of minutes, Sanji was forced to give up trying to gain entrance to the club and turned around, expecting Nami to still be there. She wasn't.

Sanji's eyes widened. Where was she? He looked around frantically, Nami completely gone from sight.

The blonde teen bolted down the street. Like he'd said earlier, the streets weren't always 100% safe at this time, especially on a Friday night. Plus, if he couldn't see her, that would mean Nami had walked quite a distance away. If she had done so, she'd surely have noticed that he was no longer with her and would have come back. If she hadn't, that would suggest that going back wasn't an option for her…

Sanji gritted his teeth and increased his pace, looking desperately into every side street that he passed. He saw no sign of his female friend though.

"Hey Sanji!"

Sanji skidded to a halt at the familiar voice. Luffy, who had just emerged from a restaurant on the opposite side of the street, was waving at him, Sabo at his side. "Luffy!"

A grinning Luffy jogged up to him, not seeing how panicked his friend was. "What are you doing here?

Sanji gulped and turned away slightly, embarrassed to tell Luffy what had happened. "Uh… well…"

Sabo, who by this time had joined the two teens, frowned. "Are you OK? You were running pretty quickly before."

Sanji sighed. "I… I was with Nami earlier, and I kind of lost sight of her. I don't know where she is. Normally it would be fine, but at this time…" Suddenly, the blonde burst into tears. "Nami's in danger because of my carelessness! I'll never forgive myself!"

Sabo and Luffy glanced at each other, Sabo a little taken aback by the over-reaction, whilst Luffy was more used to it. The dark haired teen looked around. "If Nami's in trouble… I'll definitely save her."

With that, Luffy bolted in the direction Sanji had originally been running, leaving Sanji and Sabo behind. Sabo smirked. "He really hasn't changed at all… Still acts first and thinks later. Well, we should probably follow him, huh?"

Sanji, still slightly tearful, nodded. "Yeah."

######

Nami increased her pace. There was no doubt about it, someone was following her.

In retrospect, Nami really should have paid more attention when leaving the video store. She didn't notice Sanji peel away from her since she was so busy thinking about what Coby had told her about Gecko Moriah. At some point during the journey to the store, that name had crept into her mind again.

That all changed when a couple of minutes after leaving the video store, Nami noticed a man in a dark jacket following her, a hat covering his face. When the man saw Nami look at him, he ducked into a side street, disappearing from sight. Nami continued walking, but she'd noticed the man briefly a couple of times more since then. He was doing a pretty terrible job of following her honestly, but that didn't make Nami feel any safer.

Nami froze at the sight ahead of her. A dead end. She mentally slapped herself. She hadn't been paying attention at all to where she had been going, too busy worrying about getting away from whoever it was who was following her. And now she was trapped.

Her pursuer, seeing this, emerged from an alleyway. "I'm glad to finally have the chance to finish what I started before…" he muttered audibly. Nami's eyes widened.

"What does that mean? Who are you?"

The man removed his hat and grinned at Nami. "Remember me?"

"Y… You!"

######

"_Reasons…" he thought._

_Kid stepped out of the classroom, pondering what Luffy had said, when he heard the sound of a girl shrieking. He hurried towards the source of the shout, disgusted by the sight that greeted him upon reaching it. Nami was being pressed against a locker by Absalom, who had a bad reputation when it came to women… _

"_Reasons to fight huh?" Kid muttered to himself. "This a good enough reason for you Straw Hat?"_

_Kid calmly strolled up to Absalom, tapping the boy politely on the back. He turned around, clearly annoyed to be disturbed. _

"_What? Can't you see I'm-"_

_BANG_

_Absalom fell to the ground, knocked out by one punch. Nami looked in shock at Kid. Honestly, he was the last person she expected to come to her aid._

"_Th… Thank you." _

_Kid smirked. "No problem. Where's Straw Hat though? I would have thought you'd be with him. He could have easily handled this freak." _

_Nami sighed. "Detention." Kid chuckled. _

"_He sure gets in a lot of trouble, huh?" _

_Nami laughed too. "He sure does. But that's the way he is."_

_######_

"Pervsa- I mean, Absalom!"

Absalom laughed. "Nah, you were probably right the first time. I know what I am, and I don't care. When it comes to girls like yourself, there's only one thing I want. And I've waited so long for you, Nami…."

"Stop."

Absalom turned around, irritated by the sound of a familiar voice. "Why?"

A tall, pale, almost ghostly, man walked up to Absalom's side. Nami didn't recognise this guy. "So this girl was the one with that child earlier, huh?"

Absalom nodded. "Yeah, she was the one with that Coby kid. What does it matter though? She ain't gonna do anything Ryuuma!"

Ryuuma crossed his arms. "It would certainly appear that way… But why would he appeal to this girl? She's no threat to Mr Moriah."

Nami's eyes widened. Moriah? Ryuuma examined her carefully for a second before sighing and turning around. He began to walk away. "Right. I'll inform Mr Moriah immediately about this. I've no interest in this girl any longer, feel free to do as you please Absalom."

Absalom licked his lips as Ryuuma disappeared from sight. "I will…"

Nami edged backwards as Absalom closed the gap between him and her, until she eventually hit a wall.

"Oi you!"

Nami's heart leapt at the sound of a familiar voice. Absalom turned around just in time to be instantly knocked out by a single punch to the face, breaking several of his teeth in the process. Nami smiled relievedly at the person standing before her, his wide grin her favourite sight in the whole world.

"Luffy!"

Luffy laughed as Nami jumped into his arms. He pulled her tighter as she dug her face into his shoulder. "I was so scared…."

"You don't have to worry Nami. I'll always be here to protect you!"

"R… Really?"

Luffy released Nami, so that he could flash her his signature toothy grin. "Of course! I won't let anything happen to you! I love you Nami!"

Nami laughed slightly, hugging Luffy again. It had been a while since she'd heard him say that. "I love you too Luffy."

**Nice LuNa ending there. It's been a while since I've written some actual romantic stuff for those two, so I hope you guys liked it! And the other stuff which happened in the chapter as well of course. **

**As always, thanks for reading, and please do leave a review if you can. **


	8. Sabo's Secret

**Hey guys, hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. I'm personally having an AMAZING day. I won't bore you with the details, just look at my profile pic to see what I'm so happy about. **

**So yeah, this is gonna be the last chapter before I go on a small break for a couple of months for reasons already mentioned. Sorry about that, but we've all had exams, haven't we? I'll be back when they're over and I hope you all are too.**

Nami rested her head on Luffy's shoulder and smiled contentedly. Now this was how she wanted to spend her Friday night.

"Yaah!" Usopp shrieked, throwing the bowl of popcorn high in the air, terrified by the scary movie they were watching. Chopper whimpered, burying his head in Robin's left arm. She giggled, unfazed by the appearance of the murderous psychopath, and turned to Zoro on her right, who was fast asleep.

After Luffy had saved Nami from Absalom, the two had began walking back towards town, where they met Sanji and Sabo travelling the opposite way. Since Luffy and Sabo had by this point missed the start of their movie, the two brothers decided to join Nami and Sanji in going back to Zoro's.

Luffy laughed, pointing his finger at the deformed villain on the screen. "That guy looks funny!"

Usopp glared at him. "This movie's terrifying! How can you find it funny! What the hell's wrong with you?"

Sabo, also unaffected by the film, patted a pale Sanji on the back. "You OK dude?"

Sanji jumped slightly at the sudden contact, before realising it was just Sabo. After taking a second to regain his composure, he nodded. "Y… Yeah."

Franky crossed his arms and looked at Nami. "Letting you choose the movie was a SUPER bad idea…"

Nami, who had had her eyes closed since Usopp first screamed, giggled. "Jeez, you guys are such wimps…"

Usopp glared at her. "Your eyes are closed!"

"I'm scared Robin!" Chopper wailed.

Robin rested her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's fine, it's only a movie…"

The ten (nine minus the sleeping Zoro) continued watching for a further ten minutes or so until the movie ended, Robin, Sabo and an amused Luffy the only ones who didn't have to cover their eyes at any point.

As the credits began, Sabo stood up and headed for the door. "Right. Thanks for having me everyone. I've really enjoyed tonight."

Luffy frowned. "You're going?"

Nami lifted her head up from Luffy's shoulder. "We were going to hang out here for a little longer…"

Sabo nodded. "Yeah, you should, I just really need to get going now. There's someone I have to meet."

Luffy blinked. "Who?"

Sabo tensed briefly before looking back and smiling at his little brother. "No one important."

Nami eyed Sabo suspiciously, having noticed that brief moment when he tensed and watched carefully as the blonde man exited the room. She waited for a couple of seconds before looking around at the group. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Franky asked.

"He was totally acting suspicious! Don't tell me I'm the only one who noticed how nervous he got when Luffy asked who he was meeting?"

Everyone was silent. "Uh…" Usopp hesitantly began. "Do you not think you're not being slightly… I don't know… paranoid?"

Nami glared at the long-nosed teen, making him instantly regret saying that. "I'm not crazy, OK? I know what I saw, and he was acting shifty! I think we should go follow him!"

I don't think the other seven (Not including Zoro who was still sleeping) could have looked less enthusiastic at that suggestion if they'd tried. Nami looked appealingly at Sanji, but Usopp stood between them. "Oh no you don't!"

Nami switched her pleading face from Sanji to Luffy. "You believe me, don't you Luffy?"

Luffy gulped. "I… uh…."

"Luffy!"

"Sorry Nami, but I don't think Sabo would do anything bad…."

Nami huffed and stood up. "Fine. If you're not going to go after him, then I will!"

Franky scoffed. "On you own?"

Nami, who had been heading for the door, paused. She sighed, turning appealingly to Sanji one last time, Usopp again jumping in the way. Nami gritted her teeth, too stubborn to now back down. "Yeah, I will go on my own!"

With that, the orange haired girl stormed out of the room, slamming the door as she left. The loud bang had the effect of waking up Zoro, who jumped at the sound.

"Wh… what did I miss? What happened to the lion?"

Usopp frowned. "What lion? Wait a second… are you talking about the opening credits? You fell asleep then!?"

######

Law stared blankly out of his kitchen window, silently scrubbing the plate in his hand, his mind not at all focused on the menial task of washing up. How could it be given what he'd just heard?

Mr Corazon was Doflamingo's brother. That alone was a startling revelation. But to then find out that Mr Corazon was working with the police to find some kind of secret laboratory that Doflamingo and Caesar Clown had set up, possibly within the school, almost seemed too ridiculous to be true. But it made sense, and Law figured that this was something to do with the SMILE he had heard Caesar mention last year.

And then there was Vergo. Law had been looking for him for so long, to think that he'd finally seen him for the first time today was a strange feeling. He didn't know what he'd been expecting. He had kind of been expecting him to be a demon with horns, but Vergo was just a normal looking guy. Who knew where he lived. That terrified Law. How could he sleep knowing Vergo may come and kill him before he woke up?

Law shook his head, no longer feeling safe in his own home. He quickly grabbed a jacket before leaving his house, locking the door carefully behind him. His parents weren't home, but he still didn't want Vergo entering his house. Not that a locked door would stop him probably…

At that depressing thought Law began walking. After a minute or so, he wondered whether Mr Corazon was watching him. He saved him before after all, so he must be somehow keeping an eye on him. That or he was watching Vergo. If he was, that made him feel a little safer. Although that then raised the question as to why he hadn't apprehended Vergo yet. Maybe he was waiting for him to do something…

Law sighed before continuing on into the night, no idea of where he was going or when he'd get there.

######

Vergo didn't bother looking up as the door opened. "There you are."

Violet sighed, really not wanting to apologise, but knowing she had to. "S- Sorry I'm late. I ran into some trouble on the way home."

That was true. partially. She had run into trouble on the way home.

Three hours ago.

After saying bye to Sanji, Violet had once again lost the 'motivation' to go home, and had decided to go for a long walk. A really long walk. She figured now that she had the excuse of running into some thugs, Vergo wouldn't be suspicious about her coming home late.

Vergo yawned. "I assume you dealt with them."

"Y… Yeah." Well, she would have had Sanji not got them first.

"Hn. Well, anyway, you should know that Joker's sent us some… assistance."

Violet blinked. "Assistance?"

"A boy. He seems a bit of a weakling, but his task is eliminating one of the students at your school, so I guess it's not a particularly demanding job."

"Which student? Law?"

"No. Monkey D Luffy apparently. From what Dellinger told me, this kid gave Crocodile trouble, so Joker wants him dealt with in case he becomes a nuisance."

"Is that so?" Violet knew Luffy from Rebecca. She spoke very fondly of him, it would seem like he was a very friendly, if not slightly goofy kid. Violet found it hard to believe that such a person could be any danger to Joker, but Joker was ruthless, so it didn't surprise her that he wouldn't take any chances.

Violet bit her lip, feeling disgusted at herself for thinking that. When did she become so cold that the thought of an innocent child being murdered didn't affect her?

######

Nami sighed. She had completely lost Sabo.

After leaving Zoro's house, she'd had him in sight for a couple of blocks before he turned around a corner. When Nami turned around the same corner, Sabo was nowhere to be seen. He'd disappeared into thin air.

So now Nami was making the long journey back home, the sky pitch black. Noticing she was passing the park, Nami glanced to the right, expecting to find it empty.

It wasn't. Sitting on a bench about a hundred metres away were two people, one familiar, one not.

The familiar one was Sabo, sitting on the right, his back to her. Next to him was a taller man with long wild hair, his head tilted to the side, allowing Nami to make out his facial features. He had a strikingly scary looking face, with a red tattoo running down the left side of his face.

Nami gulped and quickly got herself out of sight, hiding behind a tree. For some reason, she felt terrified of the man with Sabo. So this was who he was meeting that he couldn't tell Luffy about.

"-And?" The man gruffly demanded.

Sabo sighed, pausing for a moment before answering. "And nothing. We just had dinner before going to see a movie."

The man frowned, causing a shiver to run up Nami's spine. "You didn't tell him about me?"

"Look this isn't the kind of thing you can say easily. I only just met Luffy a few days ago after so long! Just give me time!"

The man stood up. "Fine. But you should know I'm **very** impatient to see Luffy…"

Nami's eyes widened. Just what was going on? Who was this man? What did he want with Luffy? Was he dangerous? Why was Sabo helping him? The orange haired girl staggered backwards slightly, overwhelmed with worry. Luckily before she fell someone caught her.

"Nami? What are you doing out at this time? It isn't safe to be wandering out alone…."

Nami quickly scrambled out of Law's arms and looked to where Sabo and the other man had been talking. Both of them were gone. She turned around, a confused Law staring at her like she was crazy. "Where did they go?"

"Who?"

"Sabo was sitting just there with some guy! We need to go after them! Now!"

Law blinked. "The teacher? Why, what's going on?"

Nami looked around the park frantically. "Where are they?"

Law hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. No one's there. So why don't you explain to me what's-"

"No time," Nami interrupted, turning around and sprinting in the direction of Zoro's house. "I have to go tell Luffy!"

Law just stared at the retreating Nami, shocked to see her in such a panic, before running after her. "Wait!"

######

Nami sighed frustratedly, not liking the way all her friends were looking at her like she was crazy. "I'm serious! I saw Sabo with some scary looking guy! He said he wanted to see Luffy, or something like that!"

"I'm seriously worried about her. She's seeing things now…" Usopp whispered into Zoro's ear. Nami glared at him.

"Look, I'm not crazy, I know what I saw and heard! Law saw them too, right?"

Everyone turned to Law, who had followed Nami to the house, worried about her being out alone at such a late time. He bit his lip. "Uhm, well…"

Zoro knew what that meant. "You didn't see anything, did you?"

Law sighed. "No, I didn't."

Nami's jaw dropped. She turned on him angrily. "How could you not have seen anything? You were standing right next to me!"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't see anyone there. I guess its possible they may have left before I looked…."

"Yeah, that's one explanation…" Zoro muttered, earning him a glare from Nami.

"Fine. If you all think I'm crazy, then I'm just gonna leave. Don't want my craziness to rub off on any of you!"

Robin frowned. "Nami…"

"No!" Nami yelled, once again storming out of Zoro's living room, slamming the door behind her.

Law winced slightly, before turning to Luffy. "Maybe you should go after her…"

Luffy nodded weakly. "Y… yeah. Thanks for looking out for her earlier Traffy."

"No problem."

Usopp blinked. "Actually, now that I think about it… what were you doing out at this time anyway?"

Law bit his lip. "Uh… nothing."

Luffy, who had been about to head off after Nami, stopped, sensing there was something wrong. "Traffy?"

Robin sighed. "Trafalgar… is this…?"

"It's nothing," Law said firmly, turning around to head for the door. Luffy, however, stood in his way. Law groaned. "Move out of the way Straw Hat-ya."

Luffy however merely sat down cross-legged in front of the door. "No. Not until you tell us."

Sanji nodded. "There's clearly something up with you."

"You don't really have a choice, you know," Usopp laughed, "Luffy's stubborn enough to sit there all night."

"You guys… Listen, I really don't wanna put you in danger…"

Zoro scoffed. "Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how we spent our summer?"

"We're SUPER used to danger," Franky smirked.

"Speak for yourself…" Usopp muttered, Chopper nodding weakly in agreement.

Law groaned again. "You guys…"

"Trafalgar," Robin began, looking Law directly in the eyes. "Please tell us. We want to help you."

Law gulped slightly, feeling himself getting a little hot under the collar. Why was it that she had this effect on him, even now? "A… Alright. I'll tell you everything…"

######

"Wow!" Luffy beamed, looking around the packed square excitedly. "I can't believe we're meeting Coby again! It's been so long, huh?"

Although Coby had been worried, it turned out that Luffy actually did remember him, and was actually really looking forward to seeing him again. It was the Saturday, around midday, the events of last night still fresh in the memory.

Law had told Luffy and the others everything about Doflamingo, Vergo and Caesar. Everyone was stunned that the former teacher, Mr Doflamingo was actually a criminal, and a pretty powerful one at that. The only thing Law left out was Mr Corazon, since he had explicitly stated to Law to keep his identity secret.

What shocked Law was that Luffy and the others actually already knew about Vergo. Kind of. Nami had overheard Violet talking to a 'Vergo' on the first day, but obviously hadn't known who he was. Well, now they did.

However those things weren't currently on the minds of Luffy and Zoro, who were waiting for Coby outside the cinema which Luffy and Sabo had planned to visit the previous evening. Luffy was actually really looking forward to it, whilst Zoro was a little bit more grumpy due to him missing his usual Saturday afternoon nap for this.

"Luffy! Zoro!"

The two turned to the right to see a smiling Coby jogging towards them. Luffy grinned widely. "Coby! Hey! Long time no see!"

Coby laughed, slowing as he reached the two. "Yeah, it has been a while. Wow. What is it, 6 years?"

Zoro yawned. "Something like that."

"Haha, it's so nice to see you two again. Come on, there's this really nice coffee shop nearby. We can talk there."

######

Coby watched, both impressed and a little disgusted, as Luffy finished his tenth donut. "You… really haven't changed a bit, have you Luffy?" A quick glance to the side showed that Zoro had dozed off at some point, him hunched over in the chair next to Luffy. "And neither have you Zoro…"

Luffy, seeing this, heartily thumped Zoro on the back, waking him up in probably the least peaceful way he could have. Zoro glared at him before turning to Coby. "So about this Moriah guy?"

Coby gulped. Looked like the pleasantries were over and it was now time to talk business. "You guys remember Morgan, right?" Both Zoro and Luffy nodded. "He had a younger brother in my year, Helmeppo."

Zoro yawned. "Is his brother as big a jerk as he is?"

Coby chuckled slightly. "He was initially. You see, Helmeppo always used to try to intimidate the other kids using the threat of his 'super strong big brother'. However after Morgan left Elementary School, Helmeppo was no longer able to threaten people with his brother, and so people were no longer scared of him. At first he was still a bit of a jerk, but he gradually began to change. He's a really nice guy now. My best friend, actually. His brother on the other hand…"

Luffy blinked. "What happened to him?"

"He just went from bad to worse. He's in jail now actually. Drugs."

Zoro yawned again, not really feeling any sympathy for Morgan. "So Moriah?"

"Gecko Moriah was his dealer. Basically, Morgan agreed to do a few jobs, 'deliveries' mostly, in exchange for his… you know. He got caught though, which meant he was never able to repay his debt. Since Moriah couldn't collect from Morgan, he's decided to target Helmeppo. Somehow they've found out that we're friends, so they're even targeting me too." Coby sighed loudly, running his hands through his hair. "It's a nightmare."

Zoro glanced at Luffy before turning back to Coby. "I uh… I'm sorry about that, but what do you want us to do?"

"Uh… well… I was kind of hoping you two could like… protect us."

"Did you tell the police?"

Coby shook his head. "I wanted to, but Helmeppo said Moriah would kill us if we did."

Suddenly, Luffy stood up. Both Zoro and Coby looked up at him, not sure what he was doing. Suddenly, Luffy grinned. "Yosh! Let's go kick this jerk's ass then!"

Zoro smirked. "I figured that would be your response. Well, if there's nothing else that can be done, guess we'll have to…"

Coby smiled relievedly. "So you'll help us?"

Luffy laughed. "Of course we will. You're our friend Coby!"

Coby looked between Zoro and Luffy, unable to hide his emerging smile, the memory of the time he first met the two coming back to him. "Th… thank you."

**Yeah, to be honest, not the most amazing chapter to go out with. I remember last year I had the whole Zoro/Luffy past flashback chapter before going on break and that ****was apparently a really good chapter. But it is what it is, and I hope you don't mind too much. I guess the Sabo thing's interesting though. Can you guess who he was with? **

**As always, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you have time. **


	9. Bellamy's New Partner

**Hey guys, long time no see. My exams are over so I'm back and hopefully I'll be able to get back to the same kind of updating schedule I had before my break. **

Zoro scowled at Nami as she took a seat at the table furthest away from their usual one. It was Monday lunchtime, but Nami had been sulking all day long. "Jeez, how childish…"

Ever since what had happened on Friday night, Nami had avoided the others. She was clearly hurt that no one seemed to believe her, unable to see that from their point of view her version of events was more than a little sketchy. Nonetheless, Nami had completely ignored all calls/texts from her friends at the weekend, and had completely blanked them so far during lessons as well.

Usopp sighed. "I feel kind of bad for her though. Sitting alone."

"You shouldn't. Love cook will probably go join her."

Franky nodded to the left, where Sanji and Hancock were sitting, absorbed in each other as they always were when together. "I don't think he will."

Zoro picked up a meatball from his plate. "Reckon he'd notice if I throw this at him?"

"Zoro…" Robin warned. Zoro sighed, his girlfriend's disapproving look enough to stop him.

Chopper watched Nami, who had her head turned away from their table. "I bet Luffy could cheer her up. Where is he anyway?"

Robin sighed. "Mr Smoker gave him and Trafalgar a detention. You see, Luffy was picking his nose and asked to share Trafalgar's text book. Trafalgar said he wouldn't let him unless he washed his hands, and that sparked an argument between the two which Mr Smoker ended."

Usopp chuckled. "Man, your English class sounds way more fun that ours…"

######

"Jeez, that was all your fault Traffy!"

Law sighed. His and Luffy's half an hour detention was finally over, and the two boys were walking towards the cafeteria, Luffy's stomach growling loudly, as it had been for the past thirty minutes. "I've told you before. If you're going to have such a… disgusting habit, at least wash your hands before touching other people's stuff."

Luffy was about to retort, when Law stopped, noticing someone a familiar figure walking in the opposite direction. It was Violet. Law scowled at the ground as she walked past him and Luffy, the latter not understanding what happened. "Traffy?"

Law waited until Violet was out of sight before turning to Luffy. "She's the one who was talking to Vergo."

"Oh, it's her? She's Rebecca and Barto's teacher. They say she's really nice."

"She's not," Law snarled. "Not if she's friends with him. I'm gonna go follow her."

Luffy blinked. "Why?"

"I dunno, instinct I guess. She seems kind of nervous, doesn't she?"

Luffy shrugged. "If you say so. Yosh, let's go!"

Law frowned, knowing stealth wasn't exactly Luffy's strong point. "You want to come with me?"

"Yeah, of course! I want to help you Traffy!"

Law sighed, already able to see this going badly wrong. "Alright… just try to keep quiet."

######

Violet paused. She was being followed.

A quick scan of the area around her showed the corridor was empty, it being lunchtime. But still, Violet couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she had. She was sure she was being watched. Violet turned around and began heading back the way she came, deciding visiting the SMILE factory today may be a bad move.

Law, who was hiding around the corner with Luffy, hearing this, grabbed Luffy's hand and yanked him backwards, ducking into the closest classroom. From inside, the two boys watched as Violet walked past the classroom door, luckily not noticing them in the room.

"Damn…" Law muttered. "She heard us. Although… if she's walking back now, it makes me wonder where she was going in the first place."

"Shall we go look?" Luffy asked. Law shrugged.

"May as well. Although I have no idea what we're looking for exactly."

With that the two exited the classroom and began heading off in the direction that Violet had originally been going in. Luffy looked at all the classroom doors. "Maybe she wanted to go into one of these Traffy."

"Maybe… But how can we determine which one it is without searching each one? Damn…. If only she hadn't heard us…"

Suddenly, the two heard the sound of someone running. They turned around to see Usopp sprinting towards them. Law frowned. "That's…"

"Luffy!" Usopp panted, finally reaching the two. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Luffy blinked. "Why?"

"Your locker! It's been broken into!"

"Wh… what?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you!"

######

Law watched as Luffy rummaged through his locker. "So… is anything missing?"

Luffy stepped back from his locker and frowned. "No."

"Are you sure?" Usopp asked, finding it hard to believe that someone went through the trouble of breaking into Luffy's locker, only to then not take anything. Luffy, however, nodded.

"Yeah. My books are the only stuff I keep in here, and I don't think any of them are missing…"

Law eyed the open locker. "It would be weird for someone to go through the trouble of breaking into a locker to steal a text book, and I doubt anyone would have any interest in Straw Hat Ya's notes of all people…"

Usopp nodded. "That's for sure. I'm not sure there's anyone desperate enough to want to steal Luffy's work… So why'd they break into his locker?"

Law looked over Luffy. "They must have been wanting something Straw Hat ya has. Any idea what that could be?"

Luffy gasped and dug into his locker, searching frantically for something. Law and Usopp exchanged a shocked glance. "Straw Hat ya? What is it?"

Usopp tried to peer over Luffy's shoulder. "Yeah, what are you looking for?"

Suddenly, Luffy laughed and produced a box of donuts from his locker. "Phew. They didn't take this."

Usopp glared at him. "Why the hell would they have?!"

Law rolled his eyes. "A box of donuts wasn't quite what I was thinking of. Something valuable maybe?"

"More valuable than donuts? Like meat? I don't keep any of that in my locker though…"

Law sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, forget food. Something worth a lot of money perhaps?"

Luffy frowned. "I don't think I have anything like that…"

Usopp shook his head. "I can't think of anything either. Man, things are getting real weird around here…"

######

Robin watched as Violet wrote on the board, her back to the class. It was hard to believe that their seemingly kind Chemistry teacher was actually helping some terrible people to do horrible things. Violet always seemed so genuine, like she really wanted to help her students. Robin couldn't help but think of Mr 2, a genuinely good person who'd gotten mixed up with people who were the exact opposite. Was it possible her Chemistry teacher was the same? Maybe….

Violet turned around and smiled brightly at the class. "Now, would someone like to balance the equation?"

Robin looked around the class lazily, wanting to see if there were any volunteers. However her eyes ended up resting on Law, whose gaze was absolutely fixed on Violet. And Robin could see the sheer anger in his eyes. It really did make Robin inwardly shiver. The Law sitting there was truly unrecognisable to the one she had fallen for about a year or so ago. It was difficult to explain, but it felt like a spark, a little glint in his eyes, was missing. One of the things Robin had liked so much about Law was how cool and in control he always seemed. He didn't look that way at all now, and he hadn't in a while.

Robin inwardly scolded herself for thinking like that. The poor guy had been through so much after all. Losing Monet… She couldn't imagine how she'd feel if she lost Zoro, or any of her friends. It was incredible given all that had happened in the past year or so that everyone was still safe.

The dark haired teen was interrupted from her thoughts by someone nudging her. She turned to the side to see Nami giving her an expecting look. She had been ignoring Robin, still in a mood, but it looked like her curiosity had gotten the better of her. "What's up?" she whispered. "Why are you staring at Law? And why does he looks so pissed?"

Robin bit her lip, not really wanting to say everything out loud. She opened her ring binder, taking the first worksheet out and turning the paper onto the back. She paused for a moment before quickly writing on the paper, _'Vergo = bad guy. Violet working with Vergo. Violet = bad guy." _She glanced up at Violet, who was now writing something else on the board, before passing the note to Nami. The orange haired girl frowned as she read it. She scribbled down something before passing it back to Robin, who made sure Violet was still preoccupied before looking down at the note.

'_?'_

Robin sighed. She wrote down _"I'll tell you the whole story after class" _ and passed it back to Nami, her serious expression telling the orange haired girl not to ask any more questions. Suddenly Law, who had been silent all lesson, put his hand up. Violet gulped slightly, something which Robin didn't miss, before smiling weakly at Law.

"Yes Trafalgar?"

"Miss, do you know anything about Candy?"

Violet did. She knew it was something which Joker's man, Caesar Clown, had been making. She knew everything about its composition, how to manufacture it, hell she even could make it herself in the SMILE factory if she wanted too. The teacher shook her head. "No, sorry."

Law scowled at her, knowing for a fact she was lying. "It's a very dangerous drug. What do you think about Chemists who make things like that Miss?"

"I… uh…"

"They're pretty terrible people, huh?"

Just then, the bell rung and the students began getting their stuff together. Violet, however, just stood their motionless feeling unable to breathe. There was no doubt about it. Law knew about her. She had been found out.

Violet didn't move as the students one by one departed the classroom, Law the last, Violet not missing the 'I know who you are' look he gave her as he walked out. The teacher gritted her teeth. There was nothing to be done, Law had to be gotten rid of. And if Vergo wasn't going to do it, she would.

######

Law blinked, surprised to see Robin waiting by his locker. What was more surprising was the determined look she had on her face.

"Trafalgar."

Law opened his locker and began packing his bag, his door blocking Robin from view. "Yeah?"

To his surprise, Robin swung the door back. "Look at me when I'm talking to you," she said firmly.

Law blinked, stunned by Robin's out-of-character firmness. Nonetheless, he complied, turning so he was facing her. "What is it?"

"What were you doing earlier? If you ask questions like that, she'll know you know about her."

"So?"

Robin frowned at him. "Trafalgar, you know these people are dangerous. I'm worried about you. This isn't like you, why are you acting this way?"

Law turned back to his locker, seeing Robin's determination seemingly waning. "Acting what way?" He asked bluntly.

Robin narrowed her eyes. He knew full well what she meant. "Trafalgar…"

Law shut the locker door, slinging his back over his shoulder. "This is my fight Robin. What I choose to do is of no concern to you…"

With that, the dark haired male walked past the female and was about to walk away when Robin grabbed his hand. "How can you say that…?"

Robin turned around, her eyes appealing to Law, who just stared blankly back at her. Suddenly, his expression softened, and he reached up to touch Robin's cheek with his left hand. Robin froze, his touch sending shockwaves through her body. Law leaned in towards her face, Robin able to feel his breath on hers. She pulled away, Law's lips millimetres away from making contact with her own. "Trafalgar…"

Law stared wide eyed at her, as if only just realising what he was doing. He turned his head to the side, feeling the heat rising up his cheeks. Robin frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Law sighed before turning around. "See you around…" He muttered awkwardly, before quickly walking away.

######

Bellamy looked up at the sky and scowled. He was currently sitting on the steps outside the school's main entrance, half watching cars leaving. It was the end of school now, not that that mattered really. He had skipped all of his lessons today after all. School really was a waste of time to him. Although that wasn't what was annoying him currently.

Breaking into Luffy's locker at lunch time had been a waste of time. Bellamy had been looking for a means to get Luffy's attention. He wanted to steal something that would leave Luffy with no option but to go after him. Sure, he could try provoking him, but it wouldn't be possible for him to actually kill Luffy within the school. Someone would intervene before things reached that stage. If he was going to kill Monkey D Luffy, he needed to do it in private away from the school. He needed some kind of bait to make this happen. Unfortunately, in terms of material possessions, all Luffy had in his locker at least was food and his crappy notes.

There was the girl of course, Nami. She had said herself after all, that if something happened to her, Luffy would 'kick his ass'. But it was difficult to get her alone in a vulnerable position, and even if he did what was he supposed to do. Kidnap her? How could he, in a school packed full of people?

"Excuse me… uh… Bellamy, is it?"

Bellamy turned around to see an ugly boy with long blonde hair walking towards him. "Who're you?"

He smiled sleazily, making even Bellamy cringe. "The name's Absalom. And I couldn't help but hear about an incident involving you and a guy named Coby last week."

"Who?"

"Oh, a short guy. Pink hair and glasses. Bit of a wimp…"

Bellamy winced slightly, the memory of Bartolomeo kicking his ass coming back. "Oh yeah…"

Absalom grinned and leaned down next to where Bellamy was sitting and rested his hand on his shoulder. "And I also couldn't help but notice you were up to no good this lunch time…"

Bellamy's expression hardened. "Is that so?"

Absalom laughed. "No need to get so serious! You're not the only one who has a bone to pick with that meddling Straw Hat!

Bellamy raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. And I just happen to know a way to get to him…"

######

"Grandpa! I'm home!"

Garp ducked his head into the corridor from the living room, hearing the sound of at least two other people with Luffy. Zoro he recognised, but the pink haired boy he didn't. Coby, realising this, held out his hand. "You must be Luffy's grandfather. He's told me a lot about you. I'm Coby, an old friend of Luffy's."

Garp lazily took his hand, not really caring that much. "Yeah, nice to meet you kid…"

Luffy looked at the kitchen and grinned. "Yosh! Let's go get some food and then go kick Moriah's ass!"

Coby's eyes widened. "Wait, you wanna go do this today?"

Zoro yawned. "No time like the present…"

"W.. Wait you guys, I don't even know where to find him at this moment. We need to figure out a strategy.."

"Who's Moriah?" Garp interrupted.

Coby was about to reply but Zoro beat him to it. "Some jerk."

Luffy grinned, bringing his fist and palm together. "We're gonna kick his ass for Coby!"

Garp frowned and looked Coby up and down. "Why's that? Can't he handle it?"

Coby's blinked. "M… me? Well, I'm not really all that tough sir…."

"Nonsense," Garp barked. "You're what… maybe a couple years younger than Luffy? When he was your age he could beat up people twice his age and size. Hell, he could probably have done it when he was 12! If you wanna teach this guy a lesson, you're just gonna have to toughen up instead of leaving it to other people. That's how a man deals with his problems."

Zoro exchanged a confused glance with Luffy. "What, you want us to teach Coby how to fight?"

Garp grinned, jerking a thumb towards himself. "Not just you two. I'll help too! What with my working hours, I have too much free time anyway! I need something to fill the time!"

Coby stared in awe at Garp. "Wow… you'd do that for me?"

Luffy grinned. "Of course! You're our friend Coby!"

Zoro smirked. "Besides… this sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe you could get your friend to join us too."

Coby laughed nervously. "I doubt Helmeppo will be interested in this kind of thing…"

Garp cracked his knuckles. "Sorry, but that's not an option. If he's not interested, I'll make him interested…"

Luffy and Zoro laughed, whilst Coby gulped, wondering just how smoothly 'training' was going to go.

**What do you guys think of the scene with Law and Robin? I really like writing interactions between those two, I hope you enjoyed reading it. **

**Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. **


	10. The Brave Hero Usoland

**Hey guys, hope you're excited for the second chapter this week. I wasn't planning on getting this out this early, but I was just so amazed by how nice the reviews to the last chapter were that I thought I'd work extra hard to get this chapter ready slightly early. I'm glad some of you guys kind of forgave me for being a little naughty last chapter as well with that Robin x Law moment as well. I'm even more glad that others quite enjoyed that scene ;)**

"Tell us another story Usoland!"

Usopp looked up at the sky, taking a second to think, before grinning at Leo and the other children. "Say, did I ever tell you about the time I saved Namiland from Arlong?"

Leo frowned. "Arlong?"

Usopp made a scary face, making Leo and the rest of the children lean away both in disgust and anticipation. "Yes Arlong, the 10 foot bully that terrorised the corridors of One Piece High School! At least… he did until I sorted him out!"

"What happened Usoland?" Kabu, another one of the children, excitedly asked. "Did you break his teeth like you did to Crocodile?"

"Yeah, what happened?!" Bartolomeo, sitting right at the front of the crowd of children around Usopp, giddily asked. Nami rolled her eyes, yanking him up onto his feet by the ear.

"Aren't you too old to be hanging out with them? Why are you even here?"

Bartolomeo struggled in vain to get out of Nami's vice grip. "But I want to hear the story of Usopp's bravery too!"

Nami was about to retort with the 'startling revelation' that Usopp's stories weren't true, but luckily caught herself before she did. Not for Bartolomeo's sake of course, but for the children who practically worshipped Usopp.

It was Saturday morning and Nami was hanging out with Usopp, Chopper and Robin at the park. However when Leo and his friends, who were playing in the park, had spotted Usopp, they'd immediately flocked to the long-nosed teen, demanding to hear Usopp's famous tall tales, although they really thought they were true. Robin, not too interested in listening to Usopp's stories, offered to buy Chopper ice-cream, an offer he never refused, leaving Nami, much to her annoyance, with Usopp. After a few minutes Bartolomeo had seemingly appeared from nowhere to join the children in listening to Usopp. How he, a 16 year old teenager, believed Usopp's ridiculous stories was beyond Nami.

Robin giggled, her and Chopper returning finally. "Nami…"

Nami sighed, reluctantly releasing Bartolomeo. "Finally you're back. Can we go now? If we set off now we can spend the whole afternoon shopping!"

"… And then I threw Hatchi into Kuroobi, knocking them both out and saving Zoroland and Sanjiland!"

Leo cocked his head to the side. "Zoroland? But Robiland said he's really strong."

Usopp laughed. "So is Sanjiland, but who do you think taught them both how to fight?"

Leo's eyes lit up. "It was you Usoland?!"

Chopper smiled excitedly. "Oh, is Usopp telling a story? I wanna go listen!"

Nami glared at the shorter boy as he sat down cross-legged in-between the spell-bound Bartolomeo and Leo. She turned to Robin. "Well? Shall we?"

"I'd feel kind of bad about leaving Usopp and Chopper…"

Nami pouted. "Come on, they're clearly both enjoying themselves! Besides, you don't really want to spend the whole day listening to Usopp's stories, do you?"

Robin inwardly winced. Nami had a point there. "I guess… Alright then. I'll just wait for Usopp to finish talking and then I'll tell Chopper that we're going and then-"

Nami rolled her eyes and grabbed Robin's arm and yanked her away from Usopp and the children. "Usopp doesn't stop talking when it comes to this. Let's just go, they won't notice, trust me…"

######

Sanji swung his leg upwards, blocking a weak attempt at a kick by Coby, who was sweating heavily. The blonde sighed, lowering his leg back down. The gasping would seem to indicate Coby had had enough. "Alright, let's take a break…. again."

"Yaaargh!"

Sanji turned around to see Helmeppo, Coby's slightly wimpier friend, pinned to the ground by Zoro, whose unimpressed look mirrored Sanji's. Garp groaned at the lack of progress whilst Luffy laughed heartily. "Haha… you suck Hamrio!"

"It's… cough cough… Helmeppo…" Said boy weakly objected, although Luffy didn't hear his weak gasps from where he was sitting.

A week had passed since Zoro and Luffy had first met with Coby again and, as Garp had suggested, it was the first day of Coby and Helmeppo's training. So the four, plus Coby's friend Helmeppo and Sanji, who had been forcibly recruited by Garp, had spent the whole morning in Luffy's back garden, trying to teach the two younger boys what they knew about fighting. No one had expected Coby or Helmeppo to be experts, but even so their performance had been underwhelming.

As Coby and Helmeppo laid down on the grass, resting, Zoro and Sanji made their way over to Luffy and Garp. The blonde glanced over his shoulder at the two 'apprentices'. "Maybe we should call it a day. This is going nowhere…"

Garp shook his head emphatically. "How can we call it a day? We haven't accomplished anything yet!"

"I don't think that's going to change regardless of how long we spend here…" Zoro grumbled. "Face it, this is a dumb idea."

Garp was about to say something when Luffy sprung up from his seated position and grinned. "Yosh! Let's have lunch!"

Luffy's grandfather smacked his grinning grandson in the back of his head. "Were you not listening? I just said no breaks until we actually makes some progress!"

"But Grandpa… I'm huuuuunrgy!" Luffy whined. "I bet Coby and Hapello are too!"

"H… Helmeppo…."

Zoro ignored the younger boy's weak correction. "Luffy's got a point. I don't think running 'em into the ground like this is gonna do anything."

Sanji smiled slightly. "Besides, this is their first day. What exactly were we expecting?"

Garp sighed. "Fine. One hour."

######

"…. And then I grabbed Mr 3 and threw him overboard, into the Sabaody ocean!"

"Wow! You're so awesome Usopp!" Bartolomeo cheered. Leo nodded excitedly, clearly in agreement.

"What happened next Usoland?"

"We went back to the hotel, finally, isn't that right Robin?"

Usopp was pretty used to Robin playing along whenever he 'entertained' the children, however this time there was no response. He blinked and looked around. "Huh? Where is Robin? And Nami?"

Leo gasped. Given what Usopp had just been talking about, there was only one thing on his mind. "W… Were they kidnapped? Was it Arlong?"

"Or Crocodile?" Kabu suggested. Leo's eyes widened.

"Or maybe both?!"

The kids began to panic until they were silenced by Bartolomeo suddenly standing up. He grinned. "What are you brats getting all worried about? It doesn't matter if anyone's in danger because…"

Bartolomeo's eyes lit up as he turned to Usopp. "Usopp'll just save them! Like he always does! Isn't that right?"

Leo smiled. "That's right! Usoland will save Robiland and Namiland!"

"Yay Usoland!" The children cheered.

Usopp laughed nervously. "Come on guys, we don't know for sure they're in trouble. I mean, who would…" Usopp stopped mid sentence, Doflamingo and Vergo coming to mind. Or Gecko Moriah. He gulped, realising there were actually quite a few possible culprits. The long nosed teen remained frozen in his seat, the worst possible scenarios coming to his mind, natural considering his usual negative outlook.

Leo scampered to his feet and tugged Usopp's hand urgently. "Come on Usoland, let's go! We have to go find Robiland and Namiland!"

"Uh… I… uh…"

Usopp continued to splutter as Bartolomeo and Leo pulled him to his feet and pulled him away, setting out on a frantic search of the park.

######

"Barto!" Chopper yelled, running over to the green haired boy. "Did you find Nami and Robin?"

Bartolomeo bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears. "No. I searched the whole park and couldn't find them anywhere. What would Luffy think of me? He'd be so disappointed! I.. I can't face him anymore! M… Maybe I should just end my life now…"

Chopper grabbed Bartolomeo's shirt and shook him. "No! Don't Barto! We'll find Nami and Robin somehow… Oh Usopp, what should we do?"

Usopp gulped. Everyone, Bartolomeo, Chopper and the children, were looking at him expectantly. "Well… I… uh…"

"We could go and search the areas around this park Usoland?" Mansherry suggested.

"Uh… I… "

Bartolomeo grinned. 'Great idea Usopp! Let's go! I bet if we split up we'll be able to cover more area too, right?"

"I… erm… "

Chopper nodded. "Right, great idea Usopp! You, me and Barto can all go in a different directions. We can each take approximately a third of the kids!"

"Uh…. I…."

Bartolomeo saluted Usopp. "Aye Sir! Let's go Chopper!"

With that, Bartolomeo, Chopper, and about two thirds of the children ran off, leaving a stunned Usopp and the other half of the kids, including Leo. He gulped as he watched them disappear from sight. 'Uh… what just happened?"

######

"So… something on your mind?"

Robin blinked. "Hmm?"

Nami looked worriedly at her from across the table. The two were sitting in a cafe, taking a break from the orange haired girl's shopping spree. "It's just… you've been kinda quiet. Plus yesterday in Math I noticed Law kept looking at you but you were totally blanking him. Is… there some kind of problem between you two?"

Robin bit her lip, pausing for a second before shaking her head, deciding against telling Nami about the incident earlier in the week. Besides, nothing happened, so there was nothing to tell. "No… there's nothing wrong. Sorry, I didn't realise I was ignoring him."

Nami didn't look convinced and was about to say something when she noticed a familiar face enter the cafe. It was Violet accompanied with a giant muscular man with wavy purple hair and shoulders as broad as probably two normal people put together. Robin frowned as she watched the two find a table, Violet not noticing her and Nami. They were at the other side of the room, so she couldn't make out what they were saying, however what was clear was that Violet was clearly uncomfortable.

"We have to get closer…" Robin muttered. Nami's eyes widened.

"Are you kidding? Look of the size of that guy! If they caught us-"

Robin stood up. "They won't catch me."

Nami was about to call out in protest as Robin walked towards Violet and her companion, but didn't for fear of alerting the two to her presence. Nami just watched, frozen, wondering just what Robin's plan was. It was then that she noticed Robin wasn't looking at Violet, but at someone sitting a couple of tables away from Violet. It was an average looking guy, probably about Nami and Robin's age, who was blushing bright red at the sight of Robin approaching him. Nami had noticed him staring at her and Robin a few times over the last twenty minutes or so, but she hadn't realised Robin had too. The boy looked away from Robin, fighting the blush covering his face.

Robin smiled as she reached the table, the boy having no choice but to look at her now. "Is this seat taken?" She asked innocently, knowing that even if it was the boy would have given an arm and a leg to have her join him.

He nodded. "Y… Yeah sure!"

Robin smiled once more at the boy before sitting down, quickly glancing back once. Violet was sitting just a few metres away from her, her back to her. If she listened carefully, she'd be able to hear everything Violet and her 'friend' said. The boy, who she hadn't been paying attention to, gasped suddenly, and stuck his hand out to her, almost knocking over his drink. "I… I'm Johnny! And you?"

Robin giggled as she took it. Even though she was only doing this to get close to Violet, she couldn't help but feel flattered that she was having such an effect on the boy in front of her. "I'm Lucy," she said, not wanting to give him her real name in case Violet heard. Sure, if she turned around she would see Robin, but her back was currently to her and if that remained that way she'd be fine.

Robin glanced at the book the boy had been 'reading' (He'd basically had it open whilst taking turns staring at Robin and then Nami). "I couldn't help but notice you were reading 'Canada'. It's one of my favourites. I feel so terrible for the poor boy…"

The boy's eyes lit up. Beautiful and smart, Robin had gone from a 10/10 to 11/10 in his eyes. "Oh yeah, I totally agree. You know, when I first read…"

With that Robin tuned out, turning her attention to the people behind her. The giant man stared at Violet. "So… how's progress?"

Robin's jaw dropped. Johnny blinked at the sight of Robin trying her hardest not to burst out laughing, something which was incidentally totally out of character for Robin. Said girl, noticing the boy's hurt expression, regained her composure and shook her head. "Oh no, it's not you, it's just something you said reminded me of a joke I heard."

The boy's face lit up. "Oh, so you like jokes? I've got a great one! What-"

Once again, Robin zoned out, turning her attention back to Violet and the man. Robin had to admit, she had been totally taken by surprise when the man spoke a second ago. It wasn't what he'd said, that had been a pretty ambiguous sentence. It was how he said it. Well, his voice to be exact.

It was the highest voice Robin had ever heard on a guy. Higher than her's, Nami's, honestly Robin was struggling to think of girls even who had such a high voice. The fact that such a giant, threatening looking man had such a voice was truly unbelievable.

Violet, however, didn't seem affected. She paused for a second before answering. "Fine."

The giant man didn't seem satisfied, merely staring coldly at Violet. She sighed. "What exactly is it that Joker wants to know Pica?"

Pica maintained his neutral expression. "SMILE."

"What about it?"

Pica lowered his gaze slightly. After a small pause, he spoke. "You should know better than to talk to me like that…"

Violet gulped, something which Robin caught. The teacher was completely terrified. Just what was Violet's relationship with Doflamingo and his subordinates? What would Law make of this? "I… I'm sorry. Tell Joker that the first delivery will be sent out by the end of the week."

Pica nodded. Robin couldn't help but notice that he seemed to say as little as possible. Not that she blamed him considering his voice. Pica stood up and turned towards the exit. Without another word from him or Violet, he exited the shop. Out of the corner of her eye, Robin could see Violet visibly relax as the door shut. After a second, seemingly to just calm down, she too got up and left. Robin tensed, deciding she was going to follow her.

"-So what d'ya think?"

Robin blinked. It would seem Johnny, after talking for ages, had asked her something. "Uh… pardon?"

The boy blushed, embarrassed that he had to ask again. "W.. Well, I was wondering whether you'd like to maybe.. uh… hang out again? I… I… uh… I really enjoyed the… uh.. this. I really liked this… Lucy."

Robin bit her lip, feeling bad now. Nami watched as Robin said something to him before getting up and walking out of the cafe, setting off after Violet. Nami expected him to looked rejected, but he was actually smiling widely. He suddenly gasped and pulled out his phone, typing something quickly into it. Nami's eyes widened. Did she give him her number?

Just then, Nami's own phone buzzed. She blinked and took it out of her pocket.

"Hey Lucy, it's Johnny! Just texting you so you get my number."

Nami glared at her phone. Nope. Robin had given him **her **number.

######

"Usopp!"

The long nosed teen turned around to see Chopper running towards him, his group of children close behind. The short teen looked terrified. "Ch… Chopper?"

Chopper skidded to a halt in front of Usopp. After needing a couple of seconds to catch his breath, he looked up at Usopp, his expression the definition of panicked. "Usopp, back there, I just saw… I just saw…"

"Chopper?"

Chopper gulped once, before crying out. "Arlong!"

Usopp's blood ran cold. He stood there frozen as the children around him began to react. Before the long nosed teen knew it, Leo had grabbed his hand and was beaming up excitedly at him. "Usoland! This is great! If he has Namiland and Robiland, all you have to do is beat him up again like you did before and you can save them!"

"Uh… about that.. I…"

Before Usopp could finish he was already being pulled away by Leo, the crowd of kids close behind, Chopper in front leading the way.

Usopp gulped. This wasn't good.

######

Robin stopped, taking a second to look over the apartment building she'd just seen Violet enter. She was in a rough area of town and the building was pretty grubby looking. Was this really where Violet lived? _"So what now? Do I go in? But… I don't know in which room she'll be in, or whether she'll be alone or not…"_

Robin frowned, not really knowing what to do now that she'd gotten this far. She had to do something though…

She reached into her pocket and dialled Zoro's number. The phone rang for what seemed like ages before going to answer. Robin bit her lip, before dialling the next number that came to mind. Law's.

Said boy immediately picked up. "Robin."

"Trafalgar. Please, I need your help."

There was silence for a second, much to a panicking Robin's annoyance. The last thing she wanted was for Violet, or worse, one of her 'colleagues' to catch her here. "What's wrong?"

Robin was about to reply before stopping. She figured she shouldn't say everything out loud in case anyone was listening. "I have to show you something. It's about… _That woman_," Robin finally said, using Law's 'nickname' for Violet.

There was silence for a second, before Law's voice spoke again, his tone cold and steeled. "OK. Where are you?"

######

Usopp gulped. He could see Arlong and Kuroobi on the other side of the street, their backs to him as they walked into an alleyway. Next to him Chopper was shaking. "Th.. there they are…"

The children, on the other hand, were pretty relaxed. Excited even. Leo grinned. "Man, I can't wait to see you kick this guy's ass Usoland!"

Usopp gulped, looking around frantically for the hundredth time, hoping Bartolomeo would appear with his group of children. But for the hundredth time he was left disappointed. It was genuinely up to him.

He couldn't do this.

The long nosed teen's mouth was dry. What should he do? He couldn't just run away… could he? Suddenly Usopp gritted his teeth, an idea coming to mind. Maybe, just maybe…

He turned his head to the side to face Chopper and the children. "Wait here. I'll take care of this…"

"Usoland!" The children cheered.

Usopp flashed them one smirk before crossing the road, knowing after he did what he was about to do he'd never be able to face those children again. His plan was simple, but risky. He'd start by going into the alleyway. At that point one of two things could happen. The first thing that could happen, and this was what Usopp wanted to happen, is that Arlong and Kuroobi wouldn't recognise him and he'd be able to walk past them and run home. Of course the alternative was that they would recognise him. At that point he'd have two options. Try to run past them and not be seen running away by the children or, if that was not possible, turn around and run away with the children who idolised him watching.

Either way, he'd have to run away and so lose the respect of Leo and the others. Usopp shook his head at that thought. His safety was more important than their respect.

Usopp was about to turn into the alleyway when he noticed someone walking towards him. It was an absolutely giant man with wavy purple hair. He turned into the alleyway, much to Usopp's shock. "Wait!" He called out, running into the alleyway after the purple haired man. He would have ran into the back of the now still giant man had he not skidded to a halt in time. Pica glanced back at Usopp once, before turning to face the two grinning men in front of him, Arlong holding a knife to him.

"Do I have to ask again jackass? Give me all your shit, now!"

Pica just stared evenly at the two men in front of him, his expression completely at ease. Usopp was stunned. How could he be so calm when he was being robbed? Just then, Kuroobi noticed the long nosed teen and grinned. "Hey, I remember you! Nami's wimpy friend! Long time no see! We'll be taking your stuff too then!"

Usopp glared at him, feeling a little safer stood behind the giant man. At least with him in the way he'd definitely be able to run away. "Where are Nami and Robin? What did you do to them?"

Arlong blinked. "Huh? Nami? I ain't done shit to her. Haven't even seen her since that bitch got me kicked out."

"H.. huh?"

Pica, clearly bored at this point, continued walking forwards. Arlong glared at him and held his knife up. "Oi, I ain't playing games! Give me your shit now! I want your phone, your wallet, everything!"

The giant man continued walking forwards, seemingly unfazed. Arlong gritted his teeth, genuinely freaked out by how unthreatened Pica seemed. He jabbed the knife forwards, but Pica easily evaded it and grabbed his arm. Whilst Kuroobi stood frozen in shock, Pica flung Arlong into the alley wall, before finishing him off when he was lying groaning on the ground. Kuroobi stared wide eyed at him as Pica turned his attention to him, incapacitating Arlong's henchman in a similar way. With that Pica continued on nonchalantly, glancing back once at Usopp before exiting the alleyway on the other side.

Usopp stared wide eyed at the unconscious Arlong and Kuroobi, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Who was that man?

"Usoland!"

Said boy turned around just in time to see Chopper, Leo and the rest of the children enter the alleyway. Leo smiled excitedly at the two unconscious men. "You did it Usoland! You beat Arlong up and saved Namiland and Robiland!"

Usopp blinked. "But the other guy…?"

Chopper frowned. "Other guy? What do you mean Usopp?"

The long nosed teen paused. Did they not see the giant man enter the alleyway before him? He shook his head, before grinning. Looks like this had worked out well for him. "Nothing. Man, you guys should have seen what I did to Arlong… "

Leo groaned in disappointment. "I wish we could have. Next time can we watch Usoland?"

"Maybe. Although…" Usopp froze, remembering what Arlong had said before he'd had his ass kicked. "Wait. Arlong said he didn't do anything to Nami or Robin, so that means…"

"Usopp! Chopper!"

The two teenagers turned around to see Nami standing in the alleyway entrance. Chopper smiled. "Nami! You're safe!"

Nami blinked. "Huh? Why wouldn't I be?"

"You… You weren't kidnapped?"

"Kidnapped? No, why would you think that?"

Chopper frowned. "Well you disappeared, so we thought…"

Nami rolled her eyes. "I just couldn't be bothered to listen to Usopp's stories. Anyway, we have bigger problems now. We have to find Robin!"

Usopp groaned. "What, was she kidnapped?"

"No, at least… I don't think so… She left without telling me, so I don't know where she's gone…"

######

Robin stared at Law, wide eyed, the male's back to her. "What do you mean? You can't just go in!"

"Yes I can… This isn't school. I can do what I like to her…"

Robin frowned. She really didn't like this Law. He didn't see her expression however and began to walk towards the building. Robin stared at his retreating figure before gritting her teeth and going after him. "Wait!"

Law didn't, simply continuing on his way and not looking back. "No. I'm going in whether you approve or not."

"I know…. But I want to come with you."

Law stopped. "No. This has nothing to do with you. Go home."

Robin's heart sank. 'Nothing to do with her', it really stung that Law thought their friendship was only worth that much. Nonetheless Robin steeled herself. "I'm going. You can't stop me."

Law shrugged. "Do what you want. I'm going after that woman. I won't be responsible for whatever happens to you."

Robin gulped, that statement really hurting her. What had happened to Law? He would never have said something like that before…

The raven haired girl mentally scolded herself. Right now she had to focus on the task on hand. She followed Law into the building. Upon entering, Law sighed, seeing a problem. "Which one does she live in?"

Robin was about to say something when out of the corner of her eye she noticed someone walking towards the front door of the complex from the outside. "Someone's coming…"

Law turned, able to make out Vergo's features from through the partially transparent door. He gasped and grabbed Robin, pulling her into the stairway. He listened as Vergo entered the elevator. He smirked. "Vergo…"

Before Robin could ask him what was going on, Law set off sprinting up the stairs. When the elevator stopped, he'd be there waiting for Vergo. He could hear the elevator going up as he passed each floor. Eventually, on what was the penultimate floor, the elevator stopped. Law grinned widely, totally out of character for him. This was it.

**So yeah, probably not all that exciting a chapter, but hopefully you guys liked the introduction of Pica, who is actually one of my least favourite members of Doflamingo's crew. I was never really a fan of Oda's whole high voice quirk he gave him. **

**But anyway that's besides the point. Thank you all for reading and, as always, please leave a review if you can. Your reviews for the last chapter were amazing. **


	11. Law vs Vergo

**Hey guys, as always thanks for the great reviews on the last chapter. It's always nice hearing from you all. I want to especially thank Shikamaru's ****babygirl. I remember you used to read my stuff like a couple of years back, so it's nice to see you again. Your reviews are awesome to read, as they always were. **

**Also, I'm going on Holiday on Friday, so there won't be any chapters next week or probably the week after. Sorry there's gonna be another short break but after that things should be back to normal. **

Vergo blinked, unable to believe his luck. He had spent the last week or so wondering just how he could deal with Trafalgar Law, given the fact that he seemed to have the protection of a certain someone. Yet here the troublesome teenager was, standing right in front of him practically asking to die.

Suddenly, Law charged at Vergo. The assassin reached into his pocket for a knife, but he underestimated Law's speed, and the teenager had closed the difference between them before he could get his weapon fully out. Vergo swung a leg up, but Law blocked it with his arm. With Vergo momentarily vulnerable, Law used his right leg to kick Vergo's standing leg, knocking him off balance. His knife fell to the ground.

With Vergo on the ground, Law pinned him down, punching him hard in the jaw. Once. Twice. Three time. Four times…

Suddenly, the door from the stairs opened and Robin emerged, having heard the struggle. Law turned around, giving Vergo the chance to finally push the teenager off him. Law, however, quickly regained his composure and got to his feet. He looked desperately at Robin. "Run away!"

Vergo smirked, sensing an opportunity. He lunged for Robin, however Law got between the two. "Don't you dare touch her…." He whispered threateningly.

The assassin continued to smirk. "I wonder what that girl would think of this… What was her name again…. Monet?"

Law's eyes widened. He swung at Vergo, who blocked it. "You were so important to that girl if I remember correctly. It's sad that you've replaced her so easily. She was so worried about you…"

Before Vergo could say anything more, Law punched him hard in the jaw, causing him to stagger backwards. "What do you mean… you met her?"

Vergo laughed. "A little more than that really…"

"I killed her."

Robin's eyes widened. "T.. Trafalgar…"

For a second Law was motionless, his eyes dropped to the ground. Suddenly, without warning he charged at Vergo, who braced himself, ready to repel Law. However Law evaded his attempt at a punch and tackled him to the ground. He began punching him fiercely, just like before. However, even when Vergo was past unconscious, the teenager didn't stop. He looked to the side, spotting Vergo's knife. Robin, seeing this, gasped and grabbed it before Law could.

Law stared coldly at her. "Give it to me."

Robin shook her head. "No. I won't let you do this. If you… If you…."

"I'm going to kill him. Like he did to her."

"I won't let you. If you do this you'll go to jail. Your life will be ruined. There'll be no going back." Robin gulped, before steeling herself. "Monet wouldn't have wanted this."

Law attempted to stare Robin down, but she met his gaze. She wasn't going to budge. Law sighed, before turning around and looking at the room door. "She's in this room. Stay back."

Robin nodded, watching as Law approached the door. He paused for a second, before knocking, figuring he may as well try.

No response. Law frowned and held his ear to the door. He couldn't hear anything. Yet, if Robin had seen Violet enter the building and she hadn't left, surely she had to be in this room? Could she have escaped? No, that wasn't possible, they were at least 10 floors above the ground. Law glanced back at Robin. "She's trapped."

"So what do we do? Just wait?"

Law shrugged. "Guess so. I'm not letting her get away." The teenager looked down at the unconscious Vergo. "You can go if you want. But call the police. They need to take this asshole in."

Robin bit her lip. Something told her leaving Law alone with Vergo would be a bad idea. "No, I'll wait with you…"

"You don't have to do that…"

Robin smiled at him. "I want to."

Law blushed slightly. "Th… thanks."

######

Nami looked down at her phone, having just received a text. It was from Robin.

_Sorry for leaving abruptly earlier. I'm fine in case you're worried._

The orange haired girl smiled, her first thought being relief Robin was OK. However she then remembered what Robin had done with the guy earlier, who had since sent Nami two more texts, and glared at her phone. "She sure has some explaining to do…."

Usopp blinked. "Uh… what happened?"

"I just got a text from Robin. She's alright apparently. Look's like we were worried about nothing."

"So where is she?" Chopper asked.

Nami shrugged. "I dunno. I'll text her back now. Let's go to Luffy's. He, Zoro and Sanji'll probably be finishing up with Coby and the other guy now, won't they? It's nearly 7 now."

Usopp nodded. "Yeah. I wonder if Bartolomeo's taken all the kids home yet?"

After stumbling across Nami, the three plus Leo and the other children had returned to the park, to meet up with Bartolomeo and the rest of the children. From there, Bartolomeo was pretty much ordered by Nami to take the children home whilst her, Usopp and Chopper continued to search for Robin.

Nami pouted. "I still can't believe Robin ditched me like that. That was totally uncool!"

Usopp frowned. 'But it sounds like you guys had quite the scary experience. What was the guy with Violet like?"

Nami shuddered slightly. "Oh Usopp, you should have seen him. He was the hugest guy I've ever seen. I think his shoulders were probably as wide as three of me put together, seriously. He had this weird looking purple coloured hair though…"

Usopp froze in his tracks, alerting both Nami and Chopper. His blood ran cold. Nami's description hadn't been incredibly detailed, but it totally matched the guy he'd seen in the alleyway. "I… I've seen that guy too…"

Nami's eyes widened. "What? Usopp, when?"

Usopp shook his head. "It doesn't matter, but listen, the next time you see that guy, you need to run. He's an absolute monster, no joke."

Nami stared at the long nosed teen, seriously worried by how shaken he looked. "Usopp…"

Usopp didn't reply, too freaked out. Seeing what had happened to Arlong and Kuroobi had been bad enough, but the fact that someone like that was an enemy seriously terrified him. Chopper frowned, Usopp's frightened expression scaring him too. Nami bit her lip.

"Let's just go to Luffy's. I think today's been an interesting day for us all…"

######

"Thank you for protecting me earlier…"

Law blinked. He turned to Robin, who was staring straight ahead at the ground. The two were sitting outside the locked room, the unconscious Vergo lying in front of them. She smiled softly, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. "When Vergo was about to grab me, you stepped between us. It's just… when you did that.. it…"

"It what?"

Robin turned to smile at Law. "It reminded me of when Luffy stepped between me and the students of Ohara last year. When Luffy did that, I realised… That I wasn't alone anymore. When you did it today, It reminded me… that we're friends Trafalgar."

"Robin…"

"I know… you feel alone now Trafalgar. But you're not. You never will be. Luffy, the others… me… you'll always have us by your side."

Law's eyes dropped the ground. "But Monet…"

Robin's expression softened. She shifted towards Law, who immediately buried his face in her shoulder as soon as she was close enough. Robin rested her hand comfortingly on Law's back as he sobbed softly into her shoulder. The two remained in that position for a while, Robin holding Law close. She had never seen him so vulnerable, but at the same time she was glad that she was with him at that moment.

The sound of the elevator stopping at their floor, broke both Robin and Law from their trance. The doors slid open to reveal Ace and Marco. Ace immediately went to the two teenagers' side, whilst Marco set about detaining the still unconscious Vergo.

"Are you two OK?" Ace asked worriedly. Robin smiled weakly at him.

"Y… Yeah."

Law however, glanced back at the door. "You guys have to break this door down. Vergo's accomplice is in there."

Ace was about to say something when the elevator reached the floor again. The four turned around to see an elderly lady step out the elevator and instantly freeze at the sight of the unconscious man, two police officers, and bloody teenagers in front of her. "Wh.. what happened?"

Marco blinked. "Um… Do you live on this floor ma'am?"

"Y… yes…"

Law's eyes widened. "No.. that can't be right… this is where Vergo lives! Unless…"

Robin sighed. "Unless Vergo knew we were following him and purposefully led us to the wrong floor. And that means…"

"That woman will be long gone by now," Law scowled, finishing her sentence.

Ace smiled weakly at the two. "You don't know that for sure. Me and Marco'll search this whole place from top to bottom. You two should go home though and get some rest. You look like you've had a long day."

Law continued to scowl at the ground. Robin put her hand on his shoulder before turning to Ace. "Thank you."

With that, the two teenagers left, Law more reluctant than Robin, leaving the police officers to continue the search.

######

"Hey, you OK?"

Law nodded, continuing to stare straight ahead as him and Robin walked into the autumn evening. The two continued for a bit before Law suddenly stopped. Robin blinked, turning around to face Law. "What is it?"

Law gulped before lowering his gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry."

Robin smiled at him. "You don't have to apologise.."

"No, I do. That stuff I said before about not caring about your safety… I didn't meant it, I… I don't know why I said it, I'm so-"

Robin reached out and squeezed Law's hand, stopping him mid sentence. "I know. At least… I do now."

Law smiled gratefully. "Thanks for understanding."

The two continued to walk in silence, Robin casting a worried glance at Law occasionally. His expression was completely neutral as he stared off into the distance, Robin couldn't even imagine what was going through his head currently. Monet had been missing for so long, but at least she'd always been… alive. Even if it was somewhere far away, at least she was alive. Law had always been able to hold onto that, but now…

Yet aside from before when they were waiting for the police, Law had kept himself together. She knew that Law was never really flamboyant with his emotions, but he was completely within himself currently. And that worried Robin, because she wanted to comfort him and try to help him through what had happened, but she couldn't if he wouldn't let her.

Robin inwardly scolded herself for being 'impatient' like that. When Law was ready to express whatever emotions he had, he would. Until then, Robin should just do what she could.

Eventually, after walking for about ten minutes or so, the two teenagers reached Law's house. He turned to Robin and flashed her a small smirk, before continuing to the front door. However before he opened it, he paused. He glanced back at Robin.

"Thank you… for everything."

With that, he opened the door and entered the house, leaving the raven haired girl behind. She smiled. "Anytime."

######

Franky laughed, leaning back on the sofa as he opened a can of cola. He looked between Coby and Helmeppo, who were both lying on the living room carpet, fully stretched out and panting heavily. "You two look like you've had a SUPER hard day!"

"Don't tease them Franky…" Brook lightly scolded.

Luffy grinned, turning to the skinny teen. "How was your performance today Brook?"

Franky smirked. "Soul King was SUPER today, as usual of course."

"Oi, what was that Love Cook?!"

"You heard me shithead!"

Luffy, Franky and Brook chuckled as they listened to the argument in the kitchen. After a few more minutes of bickering, Zoro appeared in the living room doorway. He scowled as took a seat on the vacant sofa. "Eyebrow's on his period. Anyway, he said dinner will be ready in half an hour." He glanced at Coby and Helmeppo, who were just about sitting up now. "You guys staying?"

Coby shook his head. "No, it's fine. Thanks for everything today by the way. I know me and Helmeppo kind of…"

"Suck?" Helmeppo suggested. Coby laughed weakly.

"More or less. But you didn't give up on us, and I'm really grateful for that."

Luffy grinned. "No problem Coby!"

"Anytime…" Zoro muttered, before yawning loudly. With that, Coby and Helmeppo both got up and left, leaving Luffy, Zoro, Franky and Brook behind. Zoro frowned and looked around. "Hey Luffy, where's Garp?"

Luffy laughed. "Grandpa's got a date!"

Franky's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?"

"No really. Her name is… uh…. Well, I forgot her name, but I met her once before and she's really nice!"

"Can't believe that old geezer has a date. Aren't you meant to… I don't know… call it quits at some point…?" Zoro muttered.

Suddenly the doorbell rung. Luffy jumped to his feet and ran to the doorbell, still full of energy despite the day of training. After a few seconds he re-entered the living room with Nami, Usopp and Chopper.

Zoro yawned lazily as they entered the room. "Oh, you guys… where have you been all day? And… Robin's not with you?"

Nami chuckled nervously. "It's… been a long day. As for Robin, she just texted me saying she was on her way. It sounds like she had an adventure of her own to be honest…"

Just then, Sanji appeared in the doorway. He beamed at Nami. "Nami! Dinner'll be ready soon! How was your day?"

Nami smiled weakly at him. "OK. If you don't mind Sanji, I'm kind of tired and hungry, so…"

Sanji saluted her. "No problem. I'll get dinner ready even quicker!"

Zoro snorted as the cook disappeared. "Dumbass Love Cook…"

Luffy laughed, throwing both his fists in the air. "Yay, food's nearly ready!"

Nami smiled as she looked between her friends. She was glad some things never changed.

######

Robin stopped as a car halted next to her. She smiled at the familiar face in the driver's seat. "Ace."

Ace grinned, kicking the door of the passenger seat open. "Need a ride? I just called and apparently the whole gang's back at home. I figure that's where your heading right?"

Robin nodded. "Thank you. Although Vergo…"

"Marco's got him. Taken him back to the station. I gotta be honest… Law did a real number on him."

Robin frowned at the mention of Law. Ace blinked. "What is it?"

The dark haired girl shook her head, not thinking it would be right to tell Ace about Monet. She didn't know if Law would want her to after all. "It's nothing."

With that, Robin sat down in the car next to Ace who, deciding against probing further, started the car. Robin smiled kindly at him, deciding to change the subject. "So have you seen Sabo recently?"

Ace shook his head. "Nope. He seems to be… ignoring me. Although that may just be me being paranoid. Although…"

"What is it?"

Ace frowned. "It seems like… he's spending a lot more time with Luffy than he is with me. I can't help but feel like… he wants something with Luffy."

"Really? What could it be?"

Ace shrugged. "Not sure. Of course, it could just be me being paranoid, but my gut feeling isn't usually wrong. Actually Robin, I have a favour to ask of you. I think you'd be the best person for this job thinking of it…. only if you want to of course?"

"Of course, anything."

Ace stared straight ahead. "Keep an eye on Sabo for me at school. He's hiding something from me and Luffy, I'm sure of it. I can't look out for Luffy when he's at school, but maybe you can."

Robin paused for a second. She'd never really known Sabo that well, but Luffy seemed to have a really close relationship with him. She couldn't believe that given their history Sabo would be dangerous to Luffy. But at the same time, there were a lot of bad things going on currently, and the safety of Luffy and her friends was her priority. Robin nodded. "OK. You can trust me."

Ace smirked, parking the car in front of his house. "I know I can. Oh, we're here. Great, I'm starving."

Robin bit her lip as she followed Ace into the house. First Doflamingo, then Moriah and now Sabo. Things seemed to be getting more and more complicated.

**RIP Monet. I don't know how many of you guys were fans of her, but yeah...**

**As always, Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. **


	12. Parents' Evening

**Hey guys, thanks for being patient while I was away, but I'm back now with a new chapter. This one's pretty slow I think, but hopefully that won't be a bad thing. Hope you like it. **

Robin glanced out of the classroom window just in time to see a bubbly Luffy enter Sabo's car, the blonde man smiling cheerfully. It was a nice sight. No matter how hard Robin tried to analyse the interactions between the two, that was the conclusion she always reached.

It had been about a month since Ace had given her the 'mission', to keep an eye on Sabo at school and try to figure out if he had any ulterior motives for spending time with Luffy. And honestly, Robin had seen nothing to suggest he did. Nonetheless Robin remained vigilant, for both Ace's sake and Luffy's.

Robin looked up at the clock at the front of the classroom. School had ended ten minutes ago, but she was staying late today to help Mr Shanks out with the parent's evening tonight for the year below.

Just then the door opened and in came Mr Shanks, followed by an irritable looking Mr Mihawk. Robin inferred that Mr Shanks must have made some joke at the sterner teacher's expense. The red haired teacher grinned at Robin. "Hey, you're prompt, as usual. First one here."

Robin smiled back. "I guess so. Who else is helping out tonight?"

"A few others. Sanji, Hancock, Chopper and Usopp I think." Mr Shanks glanced at Mr Mihawk, who was sorting some exercise books on one of the desks at the back of the room. "Am I missing anyone?"

Mr Mihawk ignored him, leafing through one of the books. He winced. "I'm definitely not looking forwards to meeting Bartolomeo's parents. I mean, it's bad enough he's failing Math, but half of his book is filled with drawings of Monkey D. Luffy. I swear his obsession with him isn't normal…"

Mr Shanks chuckled, remembering meeting Bartolomeo on the first day. "Be honest though, I'm glad that there are people like him in the year below Luffy and the guys." The red haired teacher turned to Robin. "It means school won't be too boring next year when you guys are gone."

Mr Mihawk rolled his eyes. "Fine then, let's make a deal. Next year, you'll teach all the troublemakers, whilst I take the model students." Mr Mihawk smiled, coming to a certain exercise book. "Like Rebecca for example. Look at her book. Not only is all the Maths correct, but it's set out absolutely beautifully. A lot like yours Robin actually."

Robin smiled, a little embarrassed by the compliment. "Thank you sir."

Mr Mihawk, however, continued to lavish praise on his star student. "I remember meeting your mother last year actually. That's what a parent-teacher meeting should be like, just talking about how brilliant the student is."

Just then the classroom opened and in came Mr Smoker followed by Chopper and Usopp. The white haired teacher looked at Mr Shanks. "Everything's being set up in the hall so you need to get your stuff there now. You too Mihawk."

Before either teacher could respond, Mr Smoker turned and walked out the classroom. Mr Shanks blinked, turning to Mr Mihawk. "You know, I criticise you, but **that guy's **the definition of anti-social."

Usopp and Chopper went to Robin's side. The shorter teen beamed up at her. 'Hey Robin! I didn't know you were helping out tonight!"

Robin smiled. "I didn't know you two were either."

"Well," Mr Mihawk said, scooping up the pile of exercise books. "Guess we'd better get going. We have about an hour until the parents and students start getting here."

#######

Usopp rolled his eyes as he watched Sanji whisper something in Hancock's ear, causing the dark haired girl to giggle before kissing Sanji on the cheek. "Are they going to be like this all night…?"

"Oy, Stop that!" Mr Smoker barked from across the room, causing the two teens to reluctantly separate. Mr Shanks laughed.

"Guess that's your answer. Now let's see…" The red haired teacher looked around the room, which was full of teachers and a handful of student helpers. Parent's evening was about ten minutes away now, so you would expect everyone to be present at this point. However there seemed to be one absentee. "Hey, Mihawk, where's that assistant of yours? Isn't he meant to be attending?"

Mr Mihawk blinked, taking a longer searching look around the room, trying to spot Sabo. He narrowed his eyes. "He is. Where is he?"

Robin frowned, watching the two teachers out of the corner of her eye. Sabo wasn't here? Was he with Luffy? No… Luffy had said that he was just going to drop him off home. That wouldn't take the hour it had been since the end of school. So where was he?

Just then the door of the hall opened and in came a lightly panting Sabo. He quickly made his way through the room to Mr Mihawk. "Sorry I'm late. I had some… business to attend to."

Robin examined the blonde man, searching for some clue as to what that business was. Unfortunately, it didn't look as if his appearance held any clues as to where he had been. This was the real reason why Robin had volunteered to help out with parent's evening. She wanted to keep as close an eye on Sabo as possible.

"Robin…"

Said girl turned around to see Chopper looking concernedly at her. He must have noticed her deep in thought and thought she was worrying about something. Robin smiled kindly at the short teen. "It's fine. Shall we go get something to eat before the parents start arriving?"

Chopper smiled back, reassured. "Yeah!"

The two made there way to the refreshments table at the back of the room, Robin glancing back once at Sabo, who was being 'briefed' by Mr Mihawk it seemed. Once they reached the table they were shortly joined by an annoyed looking Usopp. The long nosed teen glared at Mr Smoker across the room. "Jeez, he's a real jerk isn't he? He's spent this whole time ordering me around and hasn't thanked me once. I'm glad I'm not taught by him…"

Robin giggled. "Oh, he's not that bad once you get to know him…"

"Going by Luffy's stories, I doubt that…"

Robin was about to reply when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was Violet. The chemistry teacher was looking around the room nervously. Robin knew she had plenty to hide, but she couldn't help but wonder what was troubling her so much currently.

Suddenly, Violet got up, practically running across the room before leaving. Robin narrowed her eyes. Well that was suspicious. She turned to Usopp and Chopper, who hadn't noticed Violet go. "Uhm… would you two excuse me for a second? There's something I want to check."

Usopp and Chopper exchanged a confused glance as Robin disappeared out of the room.

######

Zoro smirked, finally reaching an answer. He glanced up at Luffy, who was lying on the floor, looking concentratedly at his exercise book. "I got 18. You?"

Luffy continued to stare at his work for a few more seconds before suddenly exhaling. "I don't get it."

"It's easy, you just put the numbers into the formula Mr Aokiji showed us. Ain't that right Ace?"

Ace, who was having a great deal of fun watching Luffy and Zoro struggle over their Math homework, got up from the sofa and glanced over Zoro's shoulder. After a couple of seconds, he smiled cheekily. "I got 30."

Zoro furrowed his brow, looking back at his working. After scanning furiously for the error for a few seconds, he sighed and leaned back. "Damn, I quit… Reckon we can copy someone's tomorrow? Kid'll probably have done it. He always asks Law to help him with Math."'

Luffy grinned, happily slamming shut his book. "Yosh! Let's go eat!"

"You already did," Ace muttered, reaching for a magazine now that the 'show' was over.

Zoro looked outside from the living room window. It was mid-autumn now, so it was pretty dark outside. "It's probably too late to go out now. I guess I should go home."

The green haired teen stood up and was about to leave when he realised both Ace and Luffy were staring at him like he had three heads. He blinked. "What?"

Ace rolled his eyes, getting up. 'You can't go home on your own. You'll get lost. Just give me five minutes, I'll give you a lift."

Luffy's eyes lit up. "Ooh, can I come Ace?"

"You can, but we're not stopping off anywhere for food."

"Oh… never mind then."

Zoro glared at his best friend, disappointed that that was his reason for wanting to come. "Hey!"

"That shouldn't have surprised you by now," Ace muttered, leaving the room.

#######

Violet sighed. No matter which way she looked at he current situation, she was in trouble. So far she'd been able to go about carrying out Doflamingo's orders fairly easily, although Vergo's arrest a month ago had been a shock. She still didn't understand how Trafalgar Law had found where she'd lived, but she was grateful (as well as surprised) that Vergo had led Law away from her to give her a chance to escape. Still, she hadn't expected Vergo to actually get beaten, and he probably didn't either, hence why he carried out the 'selfless' act in the first place. Plus, it was his job to keep her safe after all.

The end result was that Violet was now living alone in a different part of town, assured through a further meeting with Pica that Doflamingo was still keeping a close eye on her. The last month had passed without further incident, however Violet was feeling a little more threatened by Law now given what he'd done to Vergo and so was a lot more worried about running into him outside school hours.

But anyway, that wasn't what was worrying Violet. Things had been going smoothly more or less since the day of Vergo's arrest, but there was one person who could end that. One person who she had to avoid for both her and that person's sake. And that one person was going to be present tonight.

Rebecca's father, Kyros.

He knew her, and more importantly, as far as he knew, she was dead. If he saw her, Doflamingo would kill not just her, but Kyros and Rebecca too. And Violet was not going to let that happen. What that meant was that she had to somehow avoid Rebecca's father tonight. That left her with only one solution; she was going to have to leave and face whatever consequences there would be tomorrow. She couldn't risk being seen. Violet turned around and opened the back door, re-entering the school, unaware that someone had been watching her the whole time.

Robin, who had been watching her from a classroom window, frowned, wondering just what Violet had been doing. She hadn't done anything, she'd just stood outside for a few minutes, staring off into the distance. Robin didn't really know what to make of that.

The raven haired teen sighed, deciding to head back to the parents' evening. Between watching Sabo for Ace and watching Violet for Law, her life was pretty damn busy. Upon re-entering the hall, Robin was surprised to see that parents' evening had begun in the time since she was left. The room was full of parents and their children, most of whom were standing around casting impatient glances at the teacher they wanted to talk to who was currently preoccupied with another parent who had been doing the same thing five minutes earlier.

"Robin!"

Said girl turned around to see a smiling Rebecca approaching her, Kyros close behind. "Rebecca!"

Rebecca was about to say something when Kyros coughed awkwardly. She turned around and beamed at her father before turning back to Robin. "Dad, this is Robin. She's a really good friend of mine."

Kyros nodded and rigidly held a hand out to her. "Pleasure to meet you Miss. Thank you for being friends with Rebecca."

Robin giggled, Kyros' somewhat awkward personality reminding her a little of Zoro. "You don't have to thank me, it's my pleasure. Rebecca's been a very good friend to me as well. Although now that I think about it, I do have one favour to ask of you sir."

"Anything."

Robin reached into her pocket, hoping she had some paper. As it turned out she did, and a pen. "My boyfriend's a huge fan of yours. Could I please have your autograph? He'd really love it."

Kyros smirked, taking the paper and signing it. "Is that so? He plays himself?"

"Yes, he plays for the school. He's really good, although my other friend's the best player in the whole school."

Rebecca smiled. "Oh, Luffy? Yeah dad, you should see him play. I've only watched him a couple of times but he's amazing. The other team can't score when he's playing."

Kyros handed the autograph back to Robin. "A keeper, huh? How serious is he about soccer?"

Robin smiled proudly. "He's very serious, I think he's going to become a professional player soon. He has a trial at a big team this weekend actually."

"Really, which one?"

"Dressrosa."

Kyros froze. His smirk instantly disappeared and his eyes widened, his mouth suddenly running dry. Rebecca and Robin exchanged a shocked glance before the pink haired girl reached out to touch her father's arm. "Dad?"

This seemed to snap Kyros out of his trance. He turned to face Robin, a grim expression on his face. "Dressrosa, huh? You should be careful about them. That team isn't what it seems…"

Robin blinked, alarmed by Kyros' warning. She was about to say something, when Kyros tugged on Rebecca's arm. "Look, your Math teacher is free now. Let's go talk to him. Nice meeting you Robin."

"You too," Robin politely replied, still a little shaken up. With that, the two left the raven haired teen behind to ponder what had just happened. Kyros' expression when she said the name 'Dressrosa' wasn't a good one at all. He looked positively terrified. But… why?

"You OK?"

Robin turned around to see a smirking Sabo standing behind her. "Y.. yes I am, thank you."

"Really? Cuz you look like you've seen a ghost."

"No, it's just… You know Luffy has a trial at that team this weekend, right?"

Sabo nodded. "Yeah. We're all going with him, right?"

"Yes. Well, I just told Rebecca's father about it, and as soon as I mentioned the name Dressrosa… he froze. There's something about them that terrified him."

Surprisingly, Sabo nodded understandingly. "Makes sense, I suppose."

Robin furrowed her brow, confused. "It does?"

Sabo blinked before chuckling, running his hand through his hair. "That's right, you're not a big soccer fan are you? You see, Kyros used to be the best player in the whole country. He was unstoppable. Every year he'd be the top scorer. There had never been a player like him. Everyone thought he was going to break all the goalscoring records, but…"

"But what?"

Sabo sighed. "His career was ended prematurely at the age of just 27. He was in his prime. His leg was broken, snapped clean in half in a game against-"

"Dressrosa," Robin finished, seeing where this was going. Sabo nodded.

"Yeah. Just like that his career was over. Really sad when you think about it. You know, ironically, the guy who broke his leg took Kyros' place in the national team. Some people questioned whether he did it on purpose afterwards, although I'd like to think that wasn't the case…"

"Who was it?" Robin asked, now curious about the story.

"He's a guy called Diamante. Still plays for Dressrosa. We may meet him this weekend, you never know."

Robin's eyes widened. "Diamante? He's the guy from the restaurant last summer! The one who gave Luffy the trial."

Sabo blinked, surprised. "You've already met Diamante? Wow, Luffy never told me that…"

Robin frowned. "But still… even if that is what happened, I think what Rebecca's father said suggests something else…"

"What did he say?"

"He said that the Dressrosa team isn't what it seems. What do you think he meant by that?"

Sabo thought for a second before shrugging. "Dunno, it seems kind of cryptic to me. But still Robin, you're probably overthinking this. Chances are Kyros is still maybe a little bitter about Diamante ruining his career. Things like this happen in soccer though, it's part of the game unfortunately. Anyway, I should probably get back to Hawk-eyes, I told him was gonna go get some water, but that was like ten minutes ago, so…"

Robin smiled slightly at Sabo's nickname for Mr Mihawk before nodding. "OK. Thank you for explaining that to me Sabo."

Sabo smirked before heading back to Mr Mihawk's table, Robin able to see that the serious teacher wasn't too happy with his assistant's slacking off from where she was standing.

######

Sabo sighed, glancing at his list. He still had five more parents to see. His parents' evening had certainly taken a turn for the worse.

After returning to Mihawk, the stern teacher had informed him that Violet had inexplicably disappeared, so he was given the responsibility of meeting the parents of Violet's students. A difficult task considering he didn't teach any of them, nor the subject of Chemistry itself. All he had to go off was their test marks. He could tell that most of the parents leaving him weren't leaving satisfied since Sabo had no way to answer their questions about what their child needed to do to improve their marks etc.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed on the desk. Sabo inwardly groaned. "Not now…" he muttered to himself. Nonetheless, the blond man answered the call. "Hello…"

There was silence for a second, before a voice gruffly replied. "What's wrong with you?"

"N.. Nothing, sorry. It's just been a long night. Can I call you back later? I'm at a parents' evening."

"I know. I'm outside."

Sabo's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Why are you here? You can't be here!"

"Why not? Luffy's at home currently, correct?"

"I.. I know, but what if one of his friends sees you or something?"

"They won't recognise me, will they?"

"But still… Listen, I can't leave right now, I have parents to see."

Another pause. "When will you be free?"

Sabo looked around the room, which was quickly emptying. "Half an hour maybe. Why, are you going to wait-"

That was as far as he got before the man on the other end of the line hung up. Sabo stared at his phone for a second before sighing again. His life sure was complicated.

######

Ace eyed the stream of cars leaving the school. "Since everyone's going, I guess parents' evening is finishing. So where's Robin?"

Zoro, whose idea it was to pick up Robin, shrugged. "Dunno. Knowing her she'll stay right until the end to help out as much as she can. Maybe I should go in…"

"Don't bother. We'll just wait. Can't risk you getting lost somewhere at this time…"

Just then the front door of the school opened, revealing a familiar face. Zoro nudged Ace, who was still watching the growing traffic leaving the school. "Hey, it's Sabo."

Ace was about to open his door when he noticed the somewhat annoyed expression on Sabo's face. "Say… does he look OK to you?"

Zoro peered at the blonde man through the window. "He looks kind of pissed."

The two watched as Sabo approached a dark, expensive looking, car on the other side of the car park. Without a word or any form of greeting, Sabo opened the door to the passenger seat and got in, the car starting immediately. Ace narrowed his eyes. "That isn't Sabo's car. Plus, he went into the passenger seat. So who's the driver?"

Zoro, who didn't know anything of Ace's suspicions about Sabo, shrugged. "Dunno. Does it matter?"

Ace ignored his response, instead waiting for the car Sabo was in the join the back of the queue heading out of the school. When another couple of cars had drove up behind the car, Ace started his own vehicle. "We're gonna follow him."

Zoro frowned. "What, seriously? But why?"

"Just trust me," Ace replied, his serious expression telling Zoro not to ask any more questions. The green haired teen sighed.

"Guess Robin will have to get a lift from Usopp or someone…"

**Yeah, probably not my best, but hope you still enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! **


	13. Luffy's Trial

**Hey guys, hope you're all enjoying what is a beautiful summer afternoon where I am. I can only hope you all enjoy reading these new chapters as much as I enjoy writing them haha.**

**Also, thanks for all your reviews. I literally love reading what you guys have to say, even when what you have to say is quite random, such as the review left by 'Martyn' last chapter. I really hope you keep that up for me. **

".. And then what happened?"

Ace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well… we lost him. The car he was in turned a corner and he disappeared. No doubt in my mind though, he was definitely trying to get away from us. That car was moving way too quickly and taking way too convoluted a route for that not to be the case."

Robin frowned. She had initially been a little pissed off when Ace and Zoro had left her at parent's evening, but now she knew the full story. Looks like Ace was right though. Sabo was hiding something.

Nami, standing a bit away from the two, glared at her watch before looking up at the departures board. "Our train's soon, where the hell is he?"

'He' was Sabo, the only person yet to arrive. It was Saturday morning, the day of Luffy's trial at Dressrosa. On Friday evening, as soon as school had ended, Garp had picked Luffy up and drove him to the city of Dressrosa that night so that he and Luffy could prepare in the morning for the afternoon trial. The rest of Luffy's friends plus Ace and Sabo would join them before the trial after taking the Saturday morning train.

As if on cue, just then the blonde man appeared, jogging up to join the rest of the gang on the platform. "Sorry I'm late everyone. I just had some things to take care of before going."

Ace narrowed his eyes. What he would give to know just what exactly those 'things' were. Nami, however, rolled her eyes. "The train'll reach here in a couple of minutes. You really cut it close…"

Sanji chuckled nervously, the one-sided friction between Nami and Sabo clear. "Well, at least we're all here now…"

Franky grinned. "I'm SUPER hyped to cheer on Luffy today!"

Sabo nodded. "Yeah, me too. I hope Dressrosa like him."

"Of course they will," Zoro replied dismissively. "They won't ever find another keeper like Luffy."

"Hey guys, the train's here," Sanji called from the edge of the platform, the first to notice the approaching locomotive in the distance.

Everyone quickly made their way to the edge of the platform, joining Sanji. Robin raised an eyebrow at the sight of Nami smiling. "What is it?"

"I'm just so excited for Luffy. I mean, today is his big chance to become a professional player. If he makes this… I mean, he's made it, hasn't he?"

Ace, overhearing this, smirked. It was moments like this when he was glad Luffy had Nami. She didn't show it necessarily all the time, but it was nice to see her like this, genuinely excited at the prospect of Luffy succeeding. She really did love him.

######

Donquixote Doflamingo grinned widely, leaning back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling of this spacious office. Life certainly was sweet.

After spending a couple of years as a High School teacher so that he could accomplish a few certain goals, Doflamingo was glad to be back in his actual job, the real head of Dressrosa FC, the country's number one soccer team, both in terms of quality and prestige. He wasn't the public head, that 'honour' belonged to Riku, but Doflamingo was the one who ran things behind the scenes. It was a pretty good deal Doflamingo thought, it meant that he could get on with his 'less orthodox activities' knowing that if he was exposed, Riku would take the heat.

Just then a knock sounded on the door. Doflamingo swivelled his chair so that he was facing away from the door and out onto the beautiful city of Dressrosa, his office's back wall a giant window basically. "Come in!"

The door opened, a woman with glasses and dark hair entering. She curtseyed slightly, even though Doflamingo had his back to her. "Sir."

"Baby 5. It's a fine morning, huh?"

"Yes sir," Baby 5 mechanically replied, before remembering what she was doing there in the first place. "Mr Trebol just called. He asked me to inform you that the prospective players have arrived at the training facilities, and the trials will begin in roughly an hour. He wanted to know whether you planned to attend."

Doflamingo, his back still to Baby 5, shook his head. "That depends. Tell me… is a 'Monkey D Luffy' present?"

Baby 5 blinked, her not high up enough in Doflamingo's organisation to know about Bellamy and his mission. "I believe so. Mr Trebol said there were no absences."

Doflamingo frowned. Had Bellamy failed? Or had he simply not acted yet? Either way, this was certainly disappointing news. "Is that so? Well, in that case, I won't be attending. Do me a favour and call Pica and Diamante though. I want them to both be there If I'm not going."

"Understood."

With that Baby 5 disappeared, leaving an annoyed Doflamingo behind. What was Bellamy doing?

######

Robin frowned slightly as she watched Zoro sleep, the two sitting next to each other on the train. It had been a month now, but Robin hadn't told Zoro about that incident with Law in the school corridor, when he'd nearly kissed her. She figured since nothing actually happened, there was no reason to tell him anything. This seemed like a logically sound argument, but when Robin thought about how she'd feel if the roles were reversed and something like that happened with Zoro, Robin couldn't help but feel she'd want Zoro to be honest with her.

But then, what would be the point? Since the incident with Vergo, Robin and Law and the rest of the group had interacted as normal. Law hadn't mentioned the incident to her at all since. Would there be any use in bringing it up now when it was already like it had never happened.

But then what did this mean for Law? Robin was always aware he had feelings for her, but he'd never acted on them before that afternoon and he hadn't acted on them since. But… would he act on them again in the future?

Robin shook her head. Law knew she loved Zoro. What had happened that day must have been a minor lapse in judgement, the fact that nothing had happened since was surely proof of that. And if that was the case, Robin had nothing to worry about.

"It's pretty beautiful, huh?"

Robin blinked, pulled from her thoughts by Nami's voice. The orange haired girl was sitting opposite her, a table between her and Sanji and then Robin and Zoro, staring out of the window. Robin followed her gaze, having been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the train pulling into Dressrosa.

And like Nami had said, Dressrosa really was a beautiful sight with it's paved roads and bright, colourful odd-shaped buildings. The city looked very exotic to Robin, palm trees generously dotted around the streets of the town. However what caught Robin's attention particularly was a giant circular structure in the distance. It looked like a modern version of the traditional Colosseum. Sanji, noticing her looking at it, smirked.

"That's Dressrosa's stadium, the Dressrosa Colosseum. If Luffy does well today, that's where he'll be playing week in week out."

"It's giant."

Ace, seated across the aisle alongside Sabo, nodded. "It's the biggest stadium in the country. Seats a little over 100,000. Well, anyway, it looks like we're here. Say, I wonder what Luffy and Gramps are up to now?"

######

"Hey! Luffy, right? Long time no see!"

Luffy and Garp turned around to see a grinning Diamante approaching the two. The two were currently outside with the rest of the aspiring players, watching as the official Dressrosa FC first team trained. Well, the first team minus a couple of the star players, Diamante being one of them. Garp smiled politely at the professional player. "Mr Diamante. I can't thank you enough for giving my grandson this opportunity."

Diamante laughed. "You don't have to thank me. Luffy here's the best young player I've seen in a long time, probably ever. If anything, it'll be Dressrosa's pleasure to be the team who'll secure his services for the future."

Luffy grinned, glad to receive the compliment, before realising something. "Say… why aren't you training with the other players?"

Diamante smirked cockily as he watched the rest of the squad being put through their paces. "Because I don't need it! Honestly, I think they're stressing too much about our game on Monday. We'll win easily, like we always do."

Just then in the distance, one of the Dressrosa players took a shot at goal from long range, the ball going straight into the top corner. Garp's eyes widened at the incredible shot whilst Diamante laughed. "Nice shot Gladius!"

Gladius, a first team player for Dressrosa, glanced over at Diamante and flashed him a thumbs up before returning to the training session. Garp was about to say something when he noticed some of the other players preparing for the trial and their respective parents/family/friends were looking at him, Luffy and Diamante suspiciously. "What's their problem?" The old man grumbled.

Diamante glanced over his shoulder. "They're probably worried that if I'm already familiar with you two that you'll have an unfair advantage. I wouldn't worry about it, once the trials start it becomes obvious who's gonna get in and who won't, favouritism never even plays a part."

Just then the door to the training facility opened and out came Pica, who looked over at Diamante. Said man nodded, before turning back to Luffy and Garp. "Well, looks like we'll be starting soon. Good luck."

Luffy smiled as Diamante began to make his way over to Pica. "Yeah! Thanks!"

Garp, however, watched the man curiously. Dressrosa had a game tomorrow, and Diamante, one of the players who would undoubtedly be playing, wasn't training? How could it be possible he performed at the level he did without even training properly? Dressrosa were on an incredible 15 game win streak at the start of the league season, leaving them comfortably at the top of the league table. Diamante himself was the league's top scorer with 20 goals in 15 games, an absolutely incredible ratio. How could he do that if he didn't even train properly before a match? It didn't make sense to Garp…

Was their some secret to Dressrosa's incredible level of performance?

######

About ten minutes into the trials, whilst the players were still being made to warm up, Ace, Sabo and the others arrived, quickly making their way over to Garp, who was surprisingly relaxed when compared to the rest of the parents. "Sorry we're late," Ace apologised, "We got a little lost on the way here. Have we missed much?"

Garp shook his head. "Nope, not really. They're still just warming up."

Ace eyed the players jogging in the distance. "So what's our competition looking like? How many other keepers are there?"

"Two other ones. One's tall and skinny, the other's around Luffy's height but bulkier. But, they haven't started actually training yet, so I have no idea how good they are."

Standing a few metres away from the group was Pica, silently watching over the young players as Diamante led them through the warm up, Gladius and Dellinger, another one of Dressrosa's big name players, assisting. Spartan, the veteran Dressrosa goalkeeper, was sitting by the goalposts. It looked like he'd be the one dealing with Luffy and the other goalkeepers when the warm up was finished.

Just then the door to the training facility opened and out came Baby 5, Doflamingo's secretary, heading straight for Pica. Sanji glanced over at her, at first merely noting she was attractive, before glancing back to the trials. However, as he watched the warm up ending, he couldn't help but feel a strange feeling. Something about that woman seemed… familiar. But what?

Sanji frowned and turned back to Baby 5, who was still talking to Pica who seemed to just be listening. He gave the female a proper look over, trying to figure out what it was about her that seemed so familiar. Nami, noticing Sanji's attention had shifted, snorted. "Seriously? This is the biggest day of Luffy's life probably and you're checking out girls?"

Much to Nami's surprise, Sanji ignored her, continuing to examine Baby 5. Zoro rolled his eyes. "Stupid Love cook," he muttered, before looking back at the players, Luffy and the other goalkeepers separating from the outfield players and heading over to Spartan. Just at that moment, Baby 5 finally turned away from Pica and began to head back inside. Sanji glanced back at the others, all concentrating on the trials, before following after her.

"Sorry Luffy," he muttered to himself. "But my gut instinct's telling me to follow this girl…"

######

Baby 5 hurried through Dressrosa FC's state of the art training facility, wanting to get back to the Dressrosa Colosseum and her boss quickly now that she'd delivered her message to Pica. However just as she was about to open the front door of the building, her phone started ringing. Baby 5 sighed before answering it. "Hello?"

"I want to speak to Joker," Violet's voice immediately replied.

Baby 5 narrowed her eyes. "Violet? About what?"

"SMILE."

Baby 5 paused. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes. I haven't received the ingredients necessary to synthesise the next order yet. I was told I'd receive them by the end of last week."

Doflamingo's secretary frowned. That didn't sound like Doflamingo. "I see. I'll speak to Joker when I return to the stadium. Thanks for informing me Violet."

With that, Baby 5 hung up and left the building, not realising someone had been listening in on the conversation. Sanji's eyes widened, both shocked because of what he'd just heard, but also because it had finally come to him as to why this woman was so familiar. It was because he'd seen her before, it was only briefly, but now that he replayed that night in his head, he had no doubt.

That woman was the one who'd killed Crocodile.

On that night at the hospital when he'd caught a glimpse of Crocodile's killer escaping, he had no doubt that it was this woman. He wasn't sure how he was so certain, but he was. Furthermore, having just eavesdropped on the phone call, he knew that that woman was working with Joker, who Sanji knew from Law was Doflamingo, and Violet, who again Sanji knew from Law was working with Doflamingo. This then meant that Doflamingo was the one behind Crocodile's death. But why? And this SMILE? Law had said he thought that they were making something, so was this SMILE what Doflamingo was making? But what was it?

Suddenly, Sanji's blood ran cold. This woman, who was apparently working with Doflamingo was clearly also working for Dressrosa FC. Did that mean… that Doflamingo was somehow associated with Dressrosa? If so…

The blonde quickly spun on his heels and sprinted outside. He had to go warn Luffy. He wasn't safe here.

######

"That's my boy!" Garp roared, as Luffy kept out a strike on goal with a splendid save.

After training with Spartan for a while with the other goalkeepers, Diamante had called all the players together for a large practise match with rolling subs to ensure everyone got game time. Luffy had been on for a while though, since there were only three goalkeepers and two teams, and was still yet to concede, making a string of top class saves. By contrast, the other goalkeeper had already let in three goals and seemed to be losing more and more confidence with every save Luffy made.

Nami grinned widely. "Luffy's too good," she proudly boasted. Robin giggled. Normally she would have warned her about getting ahead of herselves, but it was looking like a foregone conclusion already to be honest. Luffy was going to be signed up.

Just then, Luffy went off the pitch, allowing the goalkeeper currently sitting out to come on. Ace smirked. "That's a good sign. My guess is that they're taking him off because they've seen enough now. They don't need to test him any more. They've already decided he's good enough."

"Guys!"

Everyone turned around to see a panicked looking Sanji running towards them. Nami glared at him. "Just where the hell have you been? You've missed everything!"

"That doesn't matter, we need to take Luffy and get out of here, now!"

Zoro scowled at him. "Oi, Eyebrow, quite messing ar-"

"I'm not messing around, this is serious!" Sanji retorted, his panicked expression starting to freak everyone out now.

Ace frowned at him. "Sanji… Calm down. What's going on?"

Sanji looked between the Dressrosa players, first Pica, then Diamante, then Gladius and finally Dellinger. "The people here… are working with Doflamingo. And what's more, it was Doflamingo that killed Crocodile!"

Everyone shared a collective shocked look, including Sabo who'd been told what had happened during the summer by Ace. It was said police officer who was the first to recover. "Just how did you find this out?" he demanded.

"That woman who came outside earlier… I recognised her from that night at the hospital. I only saw her briefly, but I'm certain she's the one who killed Crocodile. I just followed her and heard her talking to Violet about Joker. According to Law, Joker's Doflamingo, so…"

"But even so," Garp argued, desperate for it to not be true for Luffy's sake. "That doesn't mean the club itself have anything to do with Doflamingo. It could just be this woman."

Sanji glared at him. "Are you seriously willing to take that risk? If these guys are with Doflamingo, they're bad news. Hell, for all we know, they could be trying to harm Luffy! Crocodile targeted Luffy before, and so did that Police Officer! How do we know that he's not working with Doflamingo and this is their way of dealing with Luffy?"

Everyone was silent, Sanji raising a valid point. Garp gulped. What should he do? Sanji was right, this could be dangerous, but at the same time it could be that Doflamingo actually did have nothing to do with Dressrosa and it was just this woman who was dangerous. But this was such an incredible opportunity for Luffy, Dressrosa were the best team in the whole country. If Luffy signed a professional contract with them, which was looking likely, he'd be set for life. Hell, he wouldn't just be set, he'd be a guaranteed superstar. How could he lose that opportunity on a hunch basically?

"Hey, Gramps," Ace muttered, seeing the dilemma he was currently mentally grappling with. "I have an idea… Let's go through with this for now, but…"

"What the hell?" Nami shouted, alerting Pica, who up until then hadn't been paying attention to them. Nami waited until he finally turned away from them before continuing in a quieter, but still concerned voice. "If Luffy's in any sort of danger, then we need to stop this now!"

"Let me finish. If Luffy's offered a contract, we'll sign it, however… I'll contact the Police force here. Tell them everything we know. They'll investigate the whole club, see if anything's up. If they notice anything suspicious, we'll pull Luffy out of here. If they don't, then we'll let Luffy stay."

Garp frowned. "I don't know…"

"Gramps," Ace began, his voice deadly serious. "I promise I will personally keep on top of the investigation. I'll contact the police here every day. Believe me, if my little brother's in **any** danger at all, I'm not gonna take any chances. I'll watch over Luffy as closely as I can. Trust me."

Ace and Garp looked at each other for a few moments, everyone else wondering what was going to happen. Garp finally nodded. "OK then. I'll leave this to you Ace."

"Hey… Garp?"

Said man turned around to see Diamante approaching the group, Luffy close behind. Both of them were grinning. As soon as Diamante reached the group, he held out his hand to Garp. "Congratulations. I've spoke to my colleagues, and we've decided, unanimously actually, to offer your grandson a professional contract at Dressrosa FC. Welcome to the club."

Garp, immediately forgetting what they'd just been discussing, took the hand. He couldn't believe it. This was up there with the proudest moments of his life. As of today, Luffy was a professional soccer player. Diamante, sensing Garp was spacing out, cleared his throat, bringing the older man back to Earth. "If you and Luffy would join us in heading to the Colosseum now, we can sort out the finer details and get that contract signed as soon as possible. We're planning on unveiling Luffy and the other couple of guys to the press tonight. It won't be front page news obviously, but they'll have their pictures taken with the manager, answer a few questions, and the whole thing'll be put up on the club's website. I'm sure all the fans will be looking forward to finding out about Dressrosa's newest star."

"Y… Yeah," Garp muttered, still in shock. Diamante squeezed his hand once more before releasing it and going back to join Pica, Gladius and Dellinger, who were heading inside.

"The cars'll be waiting round the front. Join us when you're ready. Take your time though, we're in no hurry."

As soon as Diamante and the rest of the Dressrosa players had disappeared from sight, Ace pulled Luffy into a tight hug. "This is amazing! Luffy, you've done it! You're gonna sign for Dressrosa!"

Luffy didn't say anything, just laughing, the two brothers sharing the euphoria of the moment. As soon as Ace had released Luffy it was Nami's turn to hug her boyfriend, babbling about how proud she was of him, trying to put her feelings into words before just giving up and passionately kissing him. One by one, the rest of Luffy's friends congratulated him, deciding not to mention what Sanji had found out and risk ruining the moment. When they were done, Sabo hugged Luffy too, as proud of his little brother as Ace was.

That left Garp, who's eyes were glazed over. For a year now, he'd trained Luffy as hard as he could, all for this moment. There wasn't one moment where he'd ever thought Luffy wouldn't make it, but now that he had… the feeling was truly surreal. Luffy beamed at Garp, understanding everything he was feeling. No one had believed in him as much as his Grandpa. He was his number one fan, his number one critic, his number one everything. He'd pushed him hard ever since he was a little kid, even before he'd taken up soccer, and now it felt like the two of them were being rewarded. Suddenly, Garp put his right arm around Luffy, pulling the teenager against him.

"You did good kid…" he muttered.

Luffy smiled into Garp's chest. "Thanks Grandpa."

**Pretty interesting chapter hopefully, a few new things being mentioned. **

**The next chapter (which I haven't quite finished yet, but I'm nearly there) is going to be way different from usual, so just a heads up there. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. As always, thanks for reading guys, and leave a review if you can!**


	14. Fears for the Future

**Hey guys. As always, you were awesome last chapter, I love reading all your reviews. Seriously, keep that up, you'd be surprised how much of a motivation they are for me. They're probably why I'm updating so regularly these days.**

**Like I said at the end of the last chapter, this one's a little different from normal, so I hope it's still up to standard. **

"You need to pay attention more in class!" Nami scolded, Luffy's laugh in response only annoying her more. Luffy had just gotten a D in his English test, Mr Smoker as harsh a marker to Luffy as he always was."I mean it! Are you even listening?"

Zoro laughed. "What does he care? He's a professional soccer player now. What the hell does he need school for?"

"That's a horrible attitude…" Robin muttered, although Zoro did have a point.

It had been a couple of weeks since Luffy's successful trial at Dressrosa and it had been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks for the goofy teenager. Although after the trial Diamante had made the signing of the contract seem like a mere formality, it hadn't been. The only easy issue with that had been Luffy's wages. Garp and Ace had both figured as a youth player that Luffy would earn much at all, but Luffy was being signed with a view to being promoted into the senior squad as soon as the start of next season, possibly as a first team regular. It would seem that Luffy's importance to Dressrosa had been underestimated. Given that, the contract Luffy was signing, which Garp was able to persuade Dressrosa into only putting into effect as soon as Luffy finished school in the summer, had Luffy earning more in a month than Garp and Ace earned in a year. Seriously. And that was Luffy's first contract.

The issues in the signing were to do with how Luffy would train with the club during his final year at school. The teenager desperately wanted to remain at his current school with his friends, but that created the issue of training in another City, an hour by train away. The eventual conclusion was that Luffy was going to have to do a lot of travelling over the rest of the school year.

Another interesting issue that arose was that Luffy was no longer allowed to represent the school team. He was by all accounts a professional player now and so not eligible to play in school games. That meant that Luffy had to give up both his spot in the team and his captaincy. Even though Luffy's extremely capable deputy Bartolomeo took over the duty as first choice goalkeeper, the green haired teen was more upset at the thought that he wouldn't be able to train with Luffy from now on than he was happy at his promotion. Law was made the new school captain, although he didn't seem to care too much about his new role.

Nami, hearing what Robin had said, smiled triumphantly. "Exactly. See, Robin agrees with me. Promise me you'll study tonight."

Luffy shook his head. "Sorry Nami, can't. Ace's taking me to Dressrosa after school today for training tomorrow."

Nami's face fell, upset that Luffy was going to be missing not just today but also tomorrow, a second consecutive Friday. "Really? But I was hoping we could all hang out tomorrow. Man, this sucks, why do they need you to spend so much time there?"

"Actually," Sanji interrupted. "If it hadn't been for Garp not allowing them to make Luffy join the first team squad like they wanted him to this year, then he'd have to spend way more time there. To be honest, he'd have to live there. Even now, I'm amazed he only has to go like a couple of days a week."

Nami pouted. "Doesn't matter. It still sucks."

######

Bellamy blinked, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "Wh… What did you say?" he asked into the phone. From the other end of the line he heard Doflamingo's characteristic chuckle.

"I've changed my mind over Monkey D Luffy. Its true that Teach asked me to eliminate him, but I've been able to persuade him to reconsider. It turns out from what Diamante has told me that Monkey D Luffy will be useful asset for me in the future. It could have costed me millions of dollars to replace that dog, Spartan, but in this boy I've got a replacement for free. So don't you dare touch him."

"O… OK…" Bellamy reluctantly muttered. He had had a whole plan to catch Luffy too, this sucked. Before Bellamy could ask Doflamingo if he had any more orders, his boss hung up. The blonde teen groaned in frustration. He had planned to go after Luffy tomorrow, and now that he couldn't, he felt…. frustrated. Really frustrated.

Suddenly, Bellamy grinned crazily. He stood up, chuckling to himself slightly. If he couldn't have Luffy, he'd have to 'take out his frustration' on someone else. And Doflamingo never said he couldn't harm Luffy's friends, did he?

The blonde stood up, and excitedly headed to the cafeteria, looking forward to picking out a 'victim'. He kicked the door to the room open. As soon as he entered the room, he noticed someone watching him.

Nami eyed Bellamy carefully as he walked past their table. Just when he reached them he stopped, alerting the whole group who up until then, aside from Nami, hadn't registered Bellamy's presence. For a second he just stood there without doing or saying anything. Suddenly, just as Zoro was about to ask him what he wanted, he grinned maniacally, frightening the hell out of Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Brook, whilst seriously disturbing the others, bar Luffy, who just stared blankly at him.

"You're the guy that Barto beat up, right?"

Bellamy chuckled to himself. "That's right. And you're Monkey D Luffy, aren't you?"

Sanji cracked his knuckles. When he'd heard about what Bellamy had been about to do to Nami and Robin before Bartolomeo had turned up, he had been furious. "You should go away now. I heard about what you did to Nami and Robin and well… I won't forgive anyone who tries to harm a lady."

Bellamy switched his grin from Luffy to Sanji. He eyed the blonde chef, attempting to stare him down. When Sanji didn't budge, he mentally decided against choosing Sanji as his target. A quick look at the scowling Zoro earned the same conclusion. Franky looked pretty tough to him too. As did Brook.

That left four people. Robin, Nami, Chopper and Usopp. He turned around and walked off without another word, deciding he'd go for one of them. Luffy blinked as he exited the room. "What's up with that guy?"

Nami just stared at the closed cafeteria door. There was something about the way he had been grinning at them that had seriously freaked her out. "He's bad news. Everyone… stay away from him."

######

"Hey…" Someone whispered from behind Robin, who was packing her schoolbag at her locker. It was Friday afternoon and school was over, the start of the weekend. Robin felt someone's lips brushing against the back of her neck, causing the dark haired teen to giggle.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise…"

Zoro smirked as Robin turned around to face him, leaning up and pressing her lips against his. After a couple of seconds, Zoro frowned, surprising Robin who immediately pulled away. "What is it?"

The green haired teen continued to frown. "When… was the last time we kissed?"

Robin blinked. That was a good question. She thought back in her head, the last day of the summer genuinely being the last time she could remember. "Wow, that long…" she muttered.

With that, Zoro leaned in again, forcefully capturing Robin's lips with his own. After a few seconds he pulled away slightly for air. "looks like we'll have to make up for lost time…"

Robin giggled slightly. "I like the sound of that."

After a few more minutes of Zoro's and Robin's tongues getting reacquainted with each other, the two pulled apart, Robin pressing her forehead against Zoro's as her boyfriend held her close, his hands resting on her waist, hers around his shoulders. Robin looked into Zoro's eyes. "Where is this coming from?"

Zoro shrugged slightly, as best as he could with Robin holding onto him. "I'm not sure. It's just… I've missed this. Say… do you want to do something tonight?"

Robin smiled. "I'd love to."

#######

Nami sighed. She sure was lonely.

It was Friday night and here she was, home alone, just laying on her bed. I mean, it was bad enough for her that Luffy was away in Dressrosa. He'd be staying the whole weekend there, with him being invited by Dressrosa to watch their game that weekend. But Robin and Zoro were on a date, Sanji was working, him being given a lot of extra hours this year for some reason, Usopp was on a date with Kaya, and Brook, Franky and Chopper were at a concert. Nami couldn't remember the last time all of her friends had been busy at once like that, normally there was always someone she could call to hang out with. I mean, it was usually the nine of them together hanging out of course, but normally there would be at least one of them free.

This led Nami to think about something which she'd never really thought about before. The future. What would happen once school finished this summer? Their group of nine, nine friends who had been through so much together… they'd have to break up, wouldn't they?

Everyone was going to go their separate ways. Luffy would move to Dressrosa and become a full time Professional soccer player. He'd spend a lot of time training, travelling for away games and of course playing. Robin was applying for College and had interviews at some of the country's most prestigious institutions in December. It was the same for Usopp, although the schools he were applying to were a level below Robin's. Brook had been spotted by a talent scout of a big record company and it looked, like Luffy, he was going to go professional soon, just with his music. Chopper would be off to medical school. All of them would leave the city.

And then there was Sanji and Franky, who'd be taking full time jobs at the Baratie and Garage respectively. They'd at least be staying in the city but at the same time they'd have proper full time jobs, which they'd devote all their time and effort into. It wouldn't be the same as them just going to school like they were currently. That just left Zoro. Like Usopp and Robin, he'd applied to college, but unlike those two, he'd had no responses, plus it didn't really seem like he wanted to go anyway. No one really knew what he wanted to do once school was over.

And what about Nami? Well she was a lot like Robin in that she had applied to a lot of top class schools and she too had interviews next month. However in many ways, Nami felt she was more similar to Zoro. She kept trying to picture herself in some new city with a bunch of new friends she didn't recognise, kicking back and having fun like she did with her current friends, whilst they were all somewhere else entirely and she couldn't. That image just felt wrong to her. She couldn't picture life without Luffy and the others. She didn't want it to happen. But it was going to happen. It couldn't be stopped.

The orange haired girl shook her head, sitting up. She was done moping, thinking about such depressing things. It was Friday night, and she was going to enjoy herself.

######

Nami rubbed her hands together, trying to generate some warmth. She had seriously underestimated how cold it was outside, pretty foolish considering it was mid-November, not even bringing a coat with her.

After getting up and deciding to do something earlier, Nami had called up Hatchi, who she hadn't seen since the summer in Sabaody, and asked if he wanted to meet up to catch up. He, along with Keimi, had returned home in early September after spending the whole summer in Sabaody. Nami figured it must have sounded weird calling him out of the blue, but she didn't care. She just didn't want to be alone anymore.

Nami shivered slightly as she turned the corner, still a good few blocks away from the restaurant Hatchi had suggested. And, although the point of going out had been to get away from thinking about the future, Nami couldn't help but feel her mind drift onto something else.

Her's and Luffy's relationship.

What was going to happen to that? Luffy was moving to Dressrosa at the end of the year, that was for sure. What did that mean for them? She couldn't just follow him there, not unless she got a job there, but what would she do? She couldn't imagine being apart from Luffy, and it felt like nights like tonight were just a taste of the future, her stuck wondering what Luffy was doing whilst he was out doing whatever. It almost felt like he was drifting away from her, their lives were becoming separate.

That was the real reason why Nami had been scolding Luffy earlier. He messed up exams all the time, it was nothing new. But with the way Nami had been feeling, she guessed it helped her forget the fact that Luffy had a real future ahead of him that didn't necessarily even have to feature her, whilst she had no idea what she was going to do after she left school.

Nami shook her head. She loved Luffy and he loved her. Nothing else was important, they'd sort out and work around any small issues. As long as those two things remained true, there was nothing to worry about.

######

"Hey Zoro, can I ask you something?"

Zoro shrugged, leaning back in his chair. He and Robin were eating dinner at a restaurant before catching a late night movie. "Sure."

Robin bit her lip, worried that Zoro would get annoyed if she asked what she wanted to ask. "Promise you won't get upset?"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, not liking the sound of that. Nonetheless, he nodded. "Yeah, what is it?"

"What exactly is it that… you're planning on doing after we graduate? After we finish school."

Zoro sighed. "What are you, my dad?" he muttered.

Robin looked worriedly at him. "I'm serious. Everyone's at least mentioned at some point what they'll do apart from you. You always just avoid the question, and I'm not going to lie, that's really worrying for me."

"Why's that?"

Robin blinked, Zoro's slightly bitter tone taking her by surprise. She looked up from her food to meet his gaze. He was staring coldly at her. "Wh.. what do you mean? Are you asking me why I'm worried about you?"

"Yeah. Seriously, I'm an adult, I can handle my life on my own."

Robin narrowed her eyes. "Fine. You're an adult. Then lets talk like we both are. I want to understand that you have some sort of idea what you're going to do when school finishes. That's all."

Zoro met Robin's gaze, trying but eventually failing to keep his anger. He sighed in defeat. "And… And what if I don't?"

To be honest, Zoro hadn't really been angry with Robin. It was more that Robin had reminded him with what she'd said about a frustration that had been building up inside of him recently. Up until the start of September, Zoro's life had been living, mostly sleeping, through school and hanging out with his friends. There had never been this idea of all of that having to amount to something at the end in his mind. He had always just sort of felt like it would continue on like that forever, even though he knew that wouldn't be the case. When Zoro heard his friends talking about what they were planning on doing after they finished school, it really actually terrified him, because he had no idea what he wanted to do.

Like Robin, Nami and Usopp, Zoro had sent off applications to different places, but what he hadn't told anyone was that he had actually heard back from a few of them. He'd sent off to 5 schools, and had heard back from 3 so far. 3 rejections. In many ways, Zoro wasn't surprised. His grades were more or less the same as Luffy's, who literally didn't care about his grades. That said it all. Zoro still had two chances left, but in his heart… he knew he'd just get another couple of rejections. And honestly, Zoro wasn't that upset when he thought about that. Because honestly, he didn't want to go to University. School had always been a chore to him, something which he just dragged his feet through. The fact that he had his friends was the only thing that made it bearable. The idea of going through something harder than school without even his friends by his side was just impossible for Zoro.

Zoro often tried to reassure himself, saying it was only November, he still had time to figure something out. But he'd said the same thing to himself in September, and he was no closer to the answer now than he was then. Zoro's gaze dropped to the table. "What if I don't have a plan?"

"Zoro…"

Robin bit her lip. For the past month or so she'd been so focussed on a combination of her own future, keeping an eye on Sabo for Ace, and trying to be a good friend to Law in case he needed her after what had happened to Monet, that she'd completely neglected one of the most important people in her life. He'd had to struggle through this difficult period in his life completely alone, without her help. Robin reached out to take Zoro's hand. When he looked up at her, she smiled warmly at him.

"Well then we'll come up with one… together."

Zoro smirked slightly. "Th… thanks. I love you Robin."

######

Nami sighed, glancing at her watch. It was 11:20. She'd been talking to Hatchi and Keimi, who'd come along too, for longer than she'd realised. That being said, she had enjoyed catching up with the two, who'd had a great summer in Sabaody. It turned out they'd both become great friends with Sanji's number one fan, Duval, who really had turned over a new leaf completely, doing well in his new job at the hotel. With Duval gone, the likes of Macro and the local Sabaody gangs were struggling, their influence completely eroded. It looked like their brief holiday in Sabaody had actually changed the island itself for the better.

In turn, Hatchi and Keimi were shocked to hear the story about Vivi. By the time Nami got to the end of their airport farewell, Hatchi was literally balling his eyes out. Nami had considered telling the two about Doflamingo and Moriah as well, but decided against it seeing as those particular plot lines hadn't been concluded yet.

After that the three had just chatted idly about their lives in general. Hatchi was currently in the process of opening his own restaurant in the city. And whilst Nami was definitely happy for him, especially considering how excited he seemed, she couldn't help but dully note that he too had a plan for his future. After talking for a bit longer, the three finally said their goodbyes.

And now here Nami was, walking home alone in the now freezing cold November night, not sure that she actually felt any better than she had been feeling before meeting Hatchi and Keimi. All the meeting had reminded her of was that she needed to think about her future which is exactly what she wanted to avoid doing by hanging out with Hatchi and Keimi.

Suddenly, Nami heard the sound of uncontrollable, almost maniacal laughter coming from behind her. She turned around, a grinning Bellamy standing behind her. Nami's eyes widened. She tried to run, but she was frozen to the spot. Bellamy laughed once before springing* towards her.

However just as he was about to reach her, someone stepped in front of Nami. It was a tall bony man who for some reason seemed quite familiar to Nami. Bellamy stopped and scowled at the man. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Ryuuma," the man calmly replied, seemingly the picture of ease. That was when it dawned on Nami. This was the man who had been with Absalom that night. So that meant… he was working with Moriah?

Nami gulped, unsure whether she was safer before when it was just Bellamy. Said boy just glared impatiently at Ryuuma. "And? What the fuck do you want dude?"

Ryuuma didn't even flinch at Bellamy's tone. He glanced backwards, Nami realising that there was someone else walking towards them. It was Absalom. He walked so he was standing alongside Ryuuma. Once there he looked angrily at Bellamy. He pulled out his phone and held it up so a text message was showing. "What the hell does this mean? 'the plan is off'? You fucking worm, you don't decide when our fucking plan's off, you got that you piece of shit!"

Surprisingly, Bellamy didn't look the least bit afraid, merely smirking cockily at Absalom. "Oh really? And just what are you gonna do about it?"

Absalom was about to lunge forward when Ryuuma held his hand out to stop him. "Leave this to me…" he muttered. Absalom was about to protest when Ryuuma gave him a serious look, apparently enough for Absalom to concede. Bellamy, however, let out the same crazy laugh as earlier before charging Ryuuma.

What happened next happened so quickly it was a blur to Nami. Within a matter of seconds Ryuuma had pinned Bellamy to the ground. He punched him hard once, knocking him out cold. Absalom chuckled. "Man, that was brutal…"

Ryuuma didn't respond to that, instead glancing back at Nami. "Who's this?"

Absalom shook his head. "Straw Hat's girl. No one important."

Ryuuma however eyed her. "I've been seeing that boy, Coby, with the kid with the Straw Hat recently. It would seem like Coby is yet to settle his debt with the boss as well. I wonder… do you think we could use this girl to… accelerate the payment process?"

Absalom's eyes lit up, whilst Nami's eyes widened. She took a step back, ready to start running. "I like the way you think Ryuuma. So we take this girl and only release her when Coby pays the boss. Yeah, maybe now that worm will finally give back what he owes…"

Nami gulped. This was not good.

***Get it?**

**So yeah, a pretty wordy chapter with a bit of new stuff introduced. But hey, I'm pretty sure every high school student worries about the stuff Nami was worrying about this chapter. I know I did. I hope you guys liked the way I wrote all that stuff.**

**Also, ZoRo! Where's it been? I know I've been kind of taking that couple for granted a little recently, so I hope you appreciate the couple of moments between the two I dropped into this chapter. **

**As always guys, thanks for reading and please review! **


	15. Sanji and Violet

**Hey guys, afternoon. I'm glad that the last chapter went down OK and I was really happy when one person said they actually related to it. That's totally what I was going for. **

Coby's eyes widened. It was around midnight now and he had just gotten home, having gone to see a movie with Helmeppo. The first thing he saw when he reached his house was the note stuck to the door.

It was a message from Moriah, he wanted his money. Tonight. And what was worse, he had leverage.

Coby shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze. He had to call Luffy, tell him that Moriah had Nami. He was about to do so when he remembered that Luffy, Ace and Garp had gone to Dressrosa on the previous day and were away for the whole weekend. The next person that came to Coby's mind was Zoro, but he didn't answer when Coby called him. The pink haired teen swore. Why were they both unreachable at a time like this? Coby sighed, dialling the third number that came to mind, already knowing this one would be less use than the other two.

"Hey Coby, what's up?" Helmeppo's voice greeted from the other end of the line.

"Helmeppo! Listen, we're in trouble. Moriah wants his money."

"Yeah, I know. That's why we're doing this whole thing with Mr Garp-"

Coby groaned, Helmeppo not getting it. "No, I mean he wants the money now! Tonight! He's got Luffy's girlfriend!"

Helmeppo gulped. After a couple of seconds of silence, he answered. "We need to call Luffy and Zoro then…"

"I already tried. Luffy's out of town though and I can't reach Zoro. We don't have much time anyway, he set a deadline of 2 a.m. We've got literally two hours. I think… I think the only thing we can do now is try and get the money. How much do you have?"

"You know I haven't got anywhere near enough…"

Coby sighed. "Well, we'll have to just give that and see if that satisfies him for the time being. Either way, we can't let anything happen to Nami. She's only involved because of me, if they do anything to her…"

"I get it. OK, meet me at my house and we'll see how much money we've got. Did Moriah give a place?"

"Yeah. I'll show you when I get there."

With that Coby hung up. He looked up at the sky and exhaled slowly, attempting to calm himself down. He didn't think something like this would happen so soon. He had been training under Garp for about a month now and whilst he had improved, he definitely wasn't ready to confront Moriah's gang yet.

######

Violet pulled her coat tighter around her, really feeling the cold. It was a little past midnight now after all.

She had been surprised to have been contacted by Bellamy about half an hour ago. She had known for a while now that he, like her, was working under Doflamingo, but he had never actually spoken to her before tonight. The two had just gone about their business separately until now. But it seemed like Bellamy was in some kind of trouble, with him simply sending her a text to come to a certain place immediately. Violet didn't like the fact that he seemed to be demanding this from her but figured that Joker would probably want her to help him if he was in danger.

Violet turned the corner onto the street where she expected to find Bellamy waiting. However there was no one there. The street was completely empty, although Violet could see blood on the pavement. It looked like there'd been some sort of a struggle here. Had Bellamy been involved? And if so, what had happened to him?

"It's just as I thought…"

Violet immediately turned around at the sound of the voice behind her. Standing there was Absalom, holding a phone in his hand. Violet frowned, figuring out what had happened now. "You used Bellamy's phone to contact me. Who are you? What do you want?"

Surprisingly, Absalom merely grinned widely. "Wow, you're really beautiful, you know that? The boss wanted to use you to get some information about the mysterious 'Joker' but I think I'd much rather take you for myself."

"What are you saying? Quit messing around Absalom!"

A second person emerged from around the corner. It was a girl with bright pink hair. Absalom scowled at her. "Come on Perona, look at her! She's totally hot!"

"It doesn't matter! The boss said we have to kidnap her, like we did that blonde guy!"

Violet frowned. The 'blonde guy' was presumably Bellamy. So he really was in trouble. Violet didn't know how important he was to Doflamingo, but she figured that she needed to help him, if only for the reason that he may give these people information on their boss.

"Namiiiiii! Where are you? Your prince is here!"

The three all stopped, hearing the sound of someone running towards them, their footsteps pounding against the pavement. After a couple of seconds, Sanji skidded around the corner, his hopeful expression turning to a disappointed one when he realised Nami wasn't among the three people there.

After finishing his shift at the Baratie, Sanji had bumped into Hatchi and Keimi on the walk home, who'd told him that they'd been out with Nami. They said that she'd seemed kind of down, so Sanji had called her, wanting to see what was on her mind. When she hadn't answered for the third time, Sanji became worried, but figured that she may be at home, so he'd quickly ran to Nami's house. She wasn't there.

So for the past twenty minutes or so he'd been running around the city, searching everywhere he could for Nami, but hadn't found anything. At least, not until now.

Sanji blinked, recognising two of the three people in front of him; Violet and Absalom. He scowled at the male, remembering he'd had a couple of run-ins with Nami over the last year or so. "Hey, I recognise you… You haven't done anything to Nami, have you, you shitty jerk?"

Absalom merely grinned sleazily at him. "So what if I have?"

Sanji narrowed his eyes at him. "Where is she?"

Absalom met his gaze, not willing to back down. "Wouldn't you like to know…"

Violet smiled, sensing her opportunity. She lunged at Perona, who, not expecting her attack, was sent tumbling sideways by her kick. Both Sanji and Absalom froze, not expecting something like that from the Chemistry teacher. Absalom was about to intervene, when Sanji stepped in-between him and the two women."Where's Nami?" he asked again.

Absalom clenched his fists. "Out of the way!"

With that, Absalom lunged at Sanji, who blocked his attempted punch with his leg. The two were locked in that position briefly before Sanji overpowered Absalom, sending him backwards. Before Absalom could recover, Sanji was on him again, kicking him in the side to knock him into the wall of the alleyway, before finishing him off with one last kick. He turned around, surprised to see that Violet had incapacitated Perona by this point too.

Sanji gulped. He knew she was working with Doflamingo, but he didn't realise that that meant she was this tough too. Violet, who had been examining Perona's body, suddenly looked up at Sanji. He had just seen her fight, so her cover was blown with regards to him. So she had no choice, she'd have to deal with him too.

Violet quickly got up from her crouched down position and swung her leg at Sanji, who blocked it with his own. Violet attempted to overpower Sanji, but found that she couldn't, his defence holding firm. The blonde blinked. "Why are you attacking me?"

"Why are you here? Are you following me?" Violet demanded. She knew Sanji was friends with Law. Was he helping him perhaps?

"What? No, I'm looking for my friend. Besides…" Sanji flashed Violet his most charming smirk. "I could never harm a beautiful lady like yourself."

Violet cringed. Even in this situation he still couldn't resist. The teacher sighed, withdrawing her leg. This guy was an idiot, there was no need to waste her time on him. Besides, she could tell from how easily he'd blocked her kick that she wouldn't stand a chance against him if they actually fought. "Whatever. Well, your friend isn't here, so you can go away now."

Sanji blinked, not understanding Violet's hostile attitude towards him. The teacher ignored Sanji's confused expression and went to Absalom. He was out cold. She looked up at Sanji. "What did you knock him out for? I wanted to ask him where his hideout was!"

The blonde frowned, looking over to the equally unconscious Perona. "Erm…"

"Shut up," Violet interrupted, not giving Sanji the chance to point out her hypocrisy. She searched Absalom's pockets, finding nothing aside from Bellamy's phone.

"So what do we do?"

Violet continued to search Absalom, ignoring the question. Sanji walked up so that he was next to her. "Maybe we-"

"What are you talking about? There is no 'we'. Go home kid."

Sanji sighed, Violet sure was stubborn. "Listen Miss… I need to find these guys' hideout to save Nami and for whatever reason, you want to find their hideout too. I know about you and who you're really working for, but for tonight my immediate concern is my friend so I'm willing to put aside our differences for now. Besides… I'm sure I could help you do whatever it is you want."

Violet paused. Sanji did have a point. He was strong and she had no idea what she was up against. All she knew was that someone had captured Bellamy, she had no idea who they were or how many of them there were. This wasn't the sort of thing she could do alone, and having Sanji would definitely help her. The teacher sighed. Whatever way she looked at it, teaming up with Sanji was a good idea.

"These people have one of my… colleagues… too. If they have one of your friends, I'm assuming we'll find both of them at their base. I'll contact Joker. He knows more than anyone about the criminal world in this town. He may know something about where their base is."

Sanji nodded, although he didn't like the idea about asking Doflamingo for help. But if that was the best way to save Nami, then so be it. When Violet went to call Doflamingo, Sanji took his own phone out, Zoro being the first person that came to mind to contact. He didn't know too much about Moriah, but from what he'd heard from Coby, he seemed to be pretty dangerous, meaning he and Violet would need as much help as they could get.

######

Coby sighed, done counting the money. About $3000 in total. Everything he and Helmeppo had in their accounts. "This isn't even half of it…" the pink haired teen muttered, 'it' being Helmeppo's 'debt' to Moriah. "Do you think he'll take it?"

Helmeppo gulped, continually staring out of his living room window in fear of Moriah or his thugs suddenly appearing. "Nope. You know he'll probably kill us, don't you?"

"He won't kill us. Well… he won't kill you at least. He needs someone to pay Morgan's debt after all."

Helmeppo looked at Coby, the implication of what he just said being that the pink haired teen was the one who's life was in danger. "Listen Coby… you've been a real good friend to me. Not many people would stick by someone through something like this. You don't have to come with me, let me deliver the money to Moriah."

Coby shook his head. "No, forget it, I'm coming with you. I'm your friend, I won't let you do this alone."

Helmeppo nodded. "Oh… OK. Thank you."

Coby smiled weakly back at him, trying to hide how terrified he was. "No problem."

What followed was a short silence, neither knowing what to say. Suddenly, Helmeppo chuckled slightly. Coby looked over at him, having no idea how he could laugh in their current situation. "What is it?"

"I'm just thinking… the first time I saw you… I really hated you."

"Is that so?"

Helmeppo nodded, picturing that day in Elementary school all those years ago. "I remember hearing that Morgan had been beaten up by Roronoa Zoro. I was so shocked, I couldn't imagine anyone being tougher than Morgan. From that point on… no one was scared of him any more, and because of that they weren't scared of me. The first time I saw you was at some point after that day, with Luffy and Zoro. I hated all three of you. Jeez, I was such a brat back then…"

Coby chuckled, him too finding a sense of humour. "Yeah, I remember. Man, you really have changed…"

"You know… you were my first friend Coby. You were the only kid who didn't resent me for using Morgan to push everyone around. Why was that?"

Coby shrugged, surprising Helmeppo, who gave him a questioning look. Coby thought for a second, before answering. "Well… I just figured you'd learned your lesson and wouldn't be mean to anyone again now that you'd seen how it could all blow up in your face. And… that was exactly what happened, wasn't it?"

"Yeah… Thanks Coby."

Coby merely nodded. He glanced at his watch, it was nearly one now. They had an hour. He glanced at Helmeppo, who sighed, knowing that it was time to go. With that, the two boys wordlessly got up and left the house, going out into the pitch black November night. The two walked in silence, Gecko Moriah their destination.

######

"This way," Violet muttered, turning right. She and Sanji were on their way to Gecko Moriah's hideout which, as one would expect, was in one of the worse areas of town. It was actually not too far away from Miss Doublefinger's bar. The streets were almost completely deserted, giving the city a weird 'ghost town' feel to it.

Suddenly, Sanji noticed something. He wordlessly grabbed Violet's hand from behind and pulled her into an alleyway. Violet was about to shout in protest, but Sanji quickly covered her mouth before she could. "Shh…" He whispered, pulling her back so that the two were hiding behind a dumpster. They both watched, and after a few moments, they heard footsteps approaching. Two people walked past the alleyway, a round man and a slim woman. When they had passed, Sanji removed his hand from Violet's mouth.

"They were following us," he explained.

Violet looked at Sanji, honestly impressed that he had noticed their pursuers. "Well done. I didn't hear them at all, it's a good thing you did."

Sanji's eyes turned to hearts, Violet's mild praise too much for him. "Of course! When it comes to your safety, I'm never too careful!"

Violet giggled slightly. When she'd first met Sanji, she thought that the whole chivalry thing was an act, but he really was like this. She couldn't help but find it kind of cute. "They must be Moriah's subordinates. I suppose this means they've found the two we dealt with earlier."

"I guess so. I wonder how many guys this Moriah guy has."

"Joker had no idea," Violet replied, waiting to see whether the coast was clear. "Say, when are your friends getting here? I thought they were coming to help us."

Sanji sighed. The only people he'd been able to get ahold of were Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook. Luffy and Ace were out of town, whilst he hadn't been able to contact Zoro and Robin. "I don't know. I asked them to meet me at a street a couple of blocks from where you said the hideout was. We haven't reached there yet, so for all I know they could be there waiting for us."

"Alright then," Violet began, finally satisfied that the coast was clear. She walked back out onto the street, Sanji close behind her. The two continued to walk for a bit in silence, Sanji wondering something the whole time.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Violet didn't bother to turn around to look at him. "What is it?"

"Why do you work for Doflamingo? I mean, he's a criminal who's done some terrible things to people I care about. Why would you want to work for someone like him?"

"Who said anything about wanting to work for him…" Violet muttered, before inwardly cursing herself for letting something like that just slip out.

Sanji blinked. "What does that mean?"

Violet turned around, giving Sanji a harsh look. "Nothing. Listen, just because we're doing this together now, it doesn't mean we're buddies or anything."

Surprisingly, Sanji didn't look intimidated, his eyes merely turning to hearts again. "Wow, you're beautiful even when you're angry with me…"

Violet rolled her eyes, feeling a little disgusted by how funny she found Sanji. She was so busy thinking about that that she didn't notice someone waiting for her in the alleyway she was passing. Before she could blink, that person emerged from the alleyway and lunged for her. It was the round man from before. Violet was unable to react quick enough, the man reaching out to grab her.

However before he could, Sanji closed the distance between him and the two, swinging his leg up to swat away the round man's arms. The second person, the slim woman, emerged from behind the round man, sending a kick Sanji's way, the blonde seeing it coming just in time to block it. The woman pulled back, although she slipped, momentarily off balance. Sanji had the chance to kick her, but didn't, instead choosing to place himself in between Violet and their two attackers. Violet glared at his back. "What are you doing? You could have kicked her just then!"

Sanji turned slightly so that he was looking at her. "I don't kick women."

This only annoyed Violet even more. "What are you talking about! She's trying to kill you! How can you not fight her!"

"Doesn't matter…" Sanji began, his expression deadly serious. "Even if I die, I won't kick a woman."

**Thanks for reading guys! Hope you're enjoying the weekly chapters. **


	16. Gecko Moriah

**Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of chapter last week, although that's technically not true, since I did actually put a new chapter up last week. **

**I'm not sure how many of you guys noticed, but I actually rewrote the first chapter of 'One Piece High School' and replaced the previous first chapter with the new one. I've also been working on rewriting the whole first part of that story and I'm up to I think Chapter 11 currently. So yeah, if you haven't already, hopefully you can go read the new chapter 1 of 'One Piece High School' and hopefully you'll like it. **

Violet just stared in shock at Sanji's back for a second, before smiling. She stepped forward so that she was standing besides Sanji. "You really are a hopeless guy, aren't you? I can see now that you're one a kind, aren't you Sanji?"

Sanji's eyes turned to hearts. "You think I'm special? This is the happiest moment of my life!"

Violet giggled slightly, before turning to the two in front of them. "I guess it can't be helped then. It's basically the same situation as before, leave the woman to me and you can take the guy. Although before we do that… Are you two Moriah's subordinates?"

The round man grinned. "As a matter of fact we are. I'm Hogback and this is Cindry. I'm assuming it was you two who took out Absalom and Perona earlier?"

Violet smiled confidently. "It was. You see, your boss has something of mine that I want back."

Hogback looked between Sanji and Violet. "Which one? The boy or the girl?"

Sanji gritted his teeth. They really did have Nami then. He was about to lunge forward when Violet stuck her hand out in front of him. He gave her a questioning look, but she continued to stare down Hogback and Cindry. "Why have you taken Bellamy?"

Hogback snorted. "After that boy got his ass kicked by Ryuuma, he began running his mouth off about how 'Joker' was gonna make us pay for messing with him. Naturally, that pissed us off, so we figured we'd teach him a lesson."

Violet narrowed her eyes. What was Bellamy doing, just casually throwing around Joker's name like that? If Doflamingo found out, what he would do to Bellamy would probably be 100x worse than what these guys were planning on doing. Still, if they knew Bellamy was working for Joker, she had to free him before he told them anything about Doflamingo.

"And what about Nami?" Sanji demanded. "I swear if you shitty jerks have even laid one finger on her I'll beat the shit out of every last one of you!"

Hogback shook his head dismissively. "You don't need to worry about her kid, she's just leverage so that that worm Helmeppo will finally pay up. He probably needs to hurry though, the boss gave him 'til two, and it's half one now."

Sanji glared at him. "What are you talking about? Helmeppo's debt has nothing to do with Nami, leave her out of this!"

Hogback shrugged. "That's true, but if this is the quickest way to get the money, then that's what we're going to do."

"And what happens if you don't get the money by two?"

"We'll have to up the stakes," Hogback coolly replied. "Maybe the sounds of her screams will hurry Helmeppo up…"

Sanji clenched his fists, a vein popping on his forehead. Violet looked sympathetically at him. _"He really does care about Nami, a lot. I've never met a guy like this before…" _

Suddenly, Cindry, who had been totally silent, lunged forward, Violet bracing herself. She blocked Cindry's attack, Hogback taking the opportunity to try and take her 2-on-1 before Sanji stepped between the two women and him. He easily sent Hogback tumbling backwards with a kick. Before Hogback could pick himself up, Sanji kicked on the back, knocking him to the ground again. Surprised by how weak the round man was, Sanji finished him off with one final kick. He turned around to see, like before, that Violet had finished off Cindry at this point.

"Wow," Sanji gushed admiringly. "You're so cool!"

Violet smiled slightly. She was developing something of a soft spot for Sanji. "You're not too bad yourself. Anyway… Shall we?"

Sanji nodded, following Violet as they carried on towards Moriah's hideout, totally ignoring the two unconscious bodies they were leaving behind.

######

"Let's go Helmeppo!" Coby shouted, a good twenty metres or so ahead of Helmeppo. The two were running now, approximately half an hour left until Moriah's deadline.

Helmeppo panted, struggling to keep up with his best friend, who had adapted to Garp's training slightly better than he had. "Just…. Give…. give me a sec…"

The blonde stopped, hunching over and resting his hands on his knees, trying hard to catch his breath. Coby skidded to a halt and looked back desperately at Helmeppo. "Come on, we need to hurry! If we don't, who knows what they'll do to Nami!"

"We have time. You know the place they said is no more than fifteen minutes away."

"That doesn't matter! Do you really trust these guys with Nami? For all we know, they've already harmed her. We need to get there as quickly as we can!"

Helmeppo sighed, knowing Coby was right, but too exhausted to keep running. Coby was about to say something else when they heard a group of people approaching. The two teenagers froze, thinking it may be Moriah's gang. However, much to their relief, it was four familiar faces that appeared from around the corner. It was Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook.

Usopp waved at Helmeppo and Coby. "Hey, Coby, I thought I saw you running this way! Listen, we have a problem with Moriah! He's-"

"Got Nami. I know," Coby interrupted. "It's fine, she'll be OK. Me and Helmeppo have the money… more or less."

"More or less?" Franky asked. Helmeppo sighed.

"We don't even have half of it. Honestly, we have no idea what Moriah's gonna do when we turn up there without anywhere near the amount he wants."

"It's all we have Helmeppo!" Coby shouted, beginning to get annoyed by his friend's negativity.

"That doesn't mean it's enough!" Helmeppo retorted, him a little more realistic about the current predicament than Coby.

"Guys, calm down," Chopper pleaded, stepping between the two. "The most important thing is that we save Nami."

"Yeah, speaking of that," Usopp began, looking around. "Have you two seen Sanji anywhere? He told us to meet him around here, but I can't find him anywhere. Which is really annoying since we could totally do with his help right now."

Coby smiled relievedly. "Really? Sanji's on his way here? That's great, I'd feel a lot safer if he was here! I would have called him, but I don't have his number, only Luffy's and Zoro's. Actually, speaking of those two, I know Luffy's out of town, but I can't seem to get a hold of Zoro either. Where's he?"

Usopp shrugged. "We don't know. Sanji said he couldn't contact him either. Jeez, why did he have to disappear at a time like this…"

"That doesn't matter," Franky interrupted. "There's no time to waste worrying about that now, we need to find Nami. Sanji said he knew where Moriah's hideout was, so when he gets here, we can go."

Coby blinked. "How does Sanji know where Moriah's hideout is? We don't know that. Besides, Nami won't be at their hideout anyway, the note said to meet him on some street. Hang on…"

The pink haired teen reached into his pocket, digging out the note. "Here," he said, handing it over to Usopp. The long nosed teen frowned.

"But I don't know if Sanji's heading here. He definitely said he was going to the hideout. Maybe I should call him…"

"Do it on the way," Coby interrupted. "We don't have long before two now, we need to hurry. Also, try and contact Zoro again. It's worth a shot after all."

The six teenagers nodded, heading off in the direction of the street Moriah had chosen.

######

Ryuuma looked out of the window of Moriah's limo, his destination coming into view. The street where Moriah had asked Coby and Helmeppo to go to. "They're not here yet," he stated, not glancing back at his boss who was sitting besides him in the back.

Gecko Moriah was a large, pretty strange looking man. He had purple hair, styled to look like devil horns, pale skin, and a long, quite abnormal looking neck which contrasted amusingly with his small round body. He would probably look quite funny if it wasn't for his sharp teeth, devil horns, and pointy ears which almost made him seem like a Vampire.

"Kishishishi…" he laughed. "Is that so? Well then, I guess we can have some fun with the hostages, huh Ryuuma?"

"It's not time yet though," Ryuuma replied, glancing down at his watch. "They still have ten minutes."

Moriah looked out of the window, a wide smiled on his face. He was enjoying every minute of this. "Kishishishi… that they do. You should go outside and wait for them Ryuuma."

"Sure. Although boss…"

"What is it?"

Ryuuma frowned. "Where is Oars? I would have thought you would have asked him to come for this."

Moriah tapped his nose, winking once at Ryuuma. "Kishishishi… he's preoccupied at the moment with another job for me…."

"This wouldn't have something to do with the two people who have taken out Perona and Absalom, would it? I sent Hogback and Cindry after them."

Moriah laughed. "Kishishishishi… Hogback and Cindry won't stand a chance against those two if they beat Absalom and Perona. Oars however…"

Ryuuma gulped slightly. He had only seen Oars, Moriah's strongest subordinate, in action a couple of times, but he knew that the giant man was a literal monster. He was actually beginning to feel sorry for Sanji and Violet.

######

"It's this way!" Sanji shouted, turning right, towards the street Usopp had just told him. It was about five minutes to two now, and the street was a good ten minutes away, meaning they probably wouldn't make it in time, but Sanji sure was determined to try. Violet, struggling to keep up with the blonde, panted as she tried as best as she could to follow him.

Sanji accelerated further, sprinting forwards at top speed. "Hang on Nami… I'm coming for you…"

Just then, a giant hulking figure appeared from around the corner, Sanji skidding to a halt a few metres in front of the huge man. Violet's eyes widened at the sight of their new adversary. He was clearly much taller (and wider) than her and Sanji with wild blonde hair and dark, almost reddish skin. He only had one eye visible, his right one covered by a patch. Violet instinctively hid behind Sanji. "He's… he's bigger than Pica!"

Sanji gritted his teeth. "Who are you?" he barked. "One of Moriah's men?"

"Yes… I am… Oars," the giant man mechanically replied.

Sanji was about to retort when a huge roar erupted from the stomach of Oars. Both Sanji and Violet exchanged a shocked glance, whilst Oars suddenly sat down cross-legged, rubbing his sizeable belly. "Man… I'm hungry. Do you have any food?"

A vein popped on Sanji's forehead. "No, why would I? And even if I did, why would I give it to you?"

"But I'm huuuuungry…." Oars whined.

Sanji blinked. "Wait a second… I'm sure I've heard this before…" It didn't take long for hundreds of memories of Luffy whining the exact same thing in the exact same way to come to mind. Sanji sighed. "Why does this guy have the same personality as Luffy of all people…"

Suddenly, Oars stood up, as if he was remembering something. "Oh yeah, now I remember, I was supposed to do something… Are you two the guys who beat up Absalom and Perona? Mr Ryuuma found them earlier, and when they woke up, they said they were beaten up by a blonde man with a curly eyebrow and a woman with dark hair."

Violet gulped. That description matched them perfectly. She was about to retort when Sanji spoke. "No… that wasn't us. Must have been someone else."

The chemistry teacher's jaw dropped. What was he doing, there's no way this guy would believe that there were another two people that exactly matched the description he had been given wandering about. She was about to speak again, when Oars slowly nodded.

"OK. Sorry for disturbing you two."

With that, Oars began walking off, leaving a shocked Violet behind. Sanji chuckled relievedly. "Wow, he really does have the exact personality of Luffy, huh?"

######

"Crap," Zoro swore, hanging up the phone. Robin, who had been standing besides him, frowned, not understanding why her boyfriend was so panicked.

After their movie had finished at about midnight, the couple hadn't felt like going home just yet, given that it was their first date in a long time. So they'd decided to go to the beach where they completely lost track of both the time and everything else, hence why Zoro hadn't noticed his phone ringing several times in the last couple of hours. It was only now, when they were walking home, that Zoro had finally answered his phone, a panicked Usopp telling him the current situation.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"Nami's in trouble. Moriah kidnapped her. I need to go help her. I would ask you to make it home on your own, but I'm not sure if it's safe tonight, so stick close to me." Zoro gave Robin a serious look. "I won't let any harm come to you."

Robin nodded. "OK. Let's go."

With that, the two teenagers began running towards the street Usopp told Zoro to go to.

######

"Just on time," Ryuuma commented, Coby and Helmeppo turning the corner onto the silent alleyway. Moriah's car was parked around the corner on the other side of the alleyway, out of sight. Ryuuma was about to speak again when Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook came into sight too. He looked calmly at Coby and Helmeppo, although inwardly he was furious. "What is this? I didn't say you could bring anyone else."

Coby gulped. He had felt stupid, but it had never occurred to him that the presence of his friends would be a problem. "It's fine… uh… Ryuuma, isn't it? We have the money, so where's Nami?"

"Back at the hideout. You'll have to come with us, although there's only room for two in the car. I wasn't anticipating there'd be guests."

Coby gritted his teeth. He had been so relieved when he'd seen Usopp and the others, thinking that he and Helmeppo weren't going to be alone, but it looked like they'd have to go on without them. He turned to face the group behind him. "I'm sorry guys, but for Nami's sake…"

Usopp nodded. "We get it. Good luck man."

"Th… thanks…"

With that, Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook watched helplessly as Coby and Helmeppo disappeared from sight. As soon as the sound of Moriah's car driving away had gone fully, Franky groaned.

"Damn it, this is SUPER frustrating! We have no idea what's going on with Nami!"

"Hey Usopp," Chopper said, nudging the long nosed teen. "These guys won't hurt Nami if Coby gives them the money, will they?"

Usopp sighed. "I… don't know."

Just then, the four heard the sound of footsteps frantically running towards them. The sounds grew louder until finally a heavily panting Sanji ran around the corner, skidding to a halt next to his friends. "S… sorry I'm late…" he gasped. "What happened, where's Nami?"

Before anyone could answer, an equally exhausted Violet turned the corner, stopping a little bit further short of the group. Usopp eyed her cautiously. "What's she doing here? Law said-"

"It's fine, she's against Moriah too," Sanji interrupted. "She's on our side for now. So where's Nami, what happened?"

"This bony guy was waiting here when we got here. He said he's still keeping Nami at the hideout, so he took Coby and Helmeppo there," Usopp explained.

Sanji's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding? We were heading to their hideout when you told us to come here! We would have reached there like ten minutes ago if you hadn't made us change direction!"

Usopp bit his lip, feeling guilty now. 'Well, I guess you could say that…"

"But wait," Franky interrupted. "If you guys know where their hideout is, then we can all go there now and back up Coby and Helmeppo."

"You said they drove away," Violet said, speaking for the first time. "Not only do they have a head start, but we are on foot and they are in a vehicle. It will take us a while to catch up to them, if something happens, we'll probably be too late."

Franky glared at her. "So what are we supposed to do?"

Chopper's eyes widened. "What about Zoro!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "Oh, you finally got ahold of Moss-head?"

"Yeah, and he's on his way here!" Chopper excitedly replied. "If we tell him where the hideout is, he may be close enough that he can get there on time!"

Sanji sighed, seeing one huge flaw in the plan. "Even if you tell him exactly where to go, he's not gonna get there. He'll probably end up on the other side of town."

Usopp gasped. "He has Robin with him though!"

Sanji's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Why would he do that?! Putting Robin in danger like that…"

Usopp shook his head. "Look, it doesn't matter. The fact that Robin's with him may mean they can reach Moriah's hideout and save Nami. Call them quickly."

######

Zoro handed Robin his phone, a text message from Sanji on the screen. "This is the address we need to get to. Is it close?"

Robin glanced at the screen, the address seeming familiar to her. She gasped. "That's near the bar where I was held last summer, you know the one which I escaped from? It's close to here, only about five minutes away."

Zoro smirked. "Really? That's great. Lead the way."

Robin nodded, running in front of Zoro as he slowed down. As she had promised, it didn't take long for the two to reach the street Sanji had texted Zoro. When they got there, the road was abandoned, completely empty. Zoro frowned, thinking that Sanji's address must have been wrong, and was about to say something when they heard the sound of a car approaching. He quickly grabbed Robin and pulled her into a nearby alleyway, out of sight. From there he watched as Moriah's limo drove into sight. Zoro gritted his teeth, watching as the car turned into what looked like an abandoned factory. "That must be them. Stay here, out of sight. I'll do this."

Zoro was about to go when Robin grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. "I'm coming too. I won't let you do this alone."

The green haired teen sighed. "Robin, please… I don't want to put you in any danger. Just leave this to me. Please."

"We've been through this before Zoro. In the same way that I know you couldn't bear it if you lost me, I wouldn't be able to take it if I lost you. Please let me come with you."

Zoro tried to meet Robin's gaze with his own, but his girlfriend stubbornly didn't budge. He sighed in defeat. "Stay close to me…" he muttered, turning around to get a good look at the factory. "If I tell you to run, you have to run, OK? Even if it means forgetting about me."

"But…"

"I mean it," Zoro harshly barked, silencing Robin's protests. The dark haired teen slowly nodded, although she was already inwardly hoping that it wouldn't come to that. Zoro nodded, stepping out from their hiding place into the street.

"Let's go."

**Thanks for reading! Oh, and if you read my Fairy Tail story also, the new chapter of that will be up some time later this week. By Saturday at latest. Sorry about that, but the chapter's not quite ready yet. **


	17. Lights Out

**Sorry for the delay, it's been nearly a month since I updated this story. I've just been really bust recently and am in fact moving tomorrow, leaving my home town behind for good possibly. I'm surprised by how sad actually doing so is making me. **

** So yeah, preparing for all that has taken up a lot of my time over the last few weeks and will continue to do so for probably a bit, a couple of months ****maybe. It's unfortunate, but that's just the way it is. Sorry. **

"So what is your problem anyway?"

Bellamy, handcuffed to a pole, scowled at Nami. The orange haired girl was mirroring his expression back at him, her tied to a chair a few metres away from him. They were currently both being held in a nearly pitch black room, no idea where exactly they were. "Shut it, bitch."

Nami however wasn't willing to give up so easily. After waiting for what was in reality about two hours in awkward silence with Bellamy, she had gotten bored and figured that she may as well try and make conversation with the blonde. Plus, she felt safer talking to him now that he was restrained. "And that's exactly what I'm talking about. What have I ever done to you to piss you off this much?"

"Just shut the hell up…" Bellamy grumbled, looking in the opposite direction to Nami. Said girl glared at him, Bellamy not aware of Nami's famous temper.

"Why do you have such a bad attitude? Look, like it or not, we're both stuck here, so we may as well try and at least talk to each other!"

"When I get out of this place, I swear I'm gonna hurt you… badly."

Nami rolled her eyes, seeing she was getting nowhere. "Forget it, this is hopeless."

With that, the two returned to uncomfortable silence, both scowling in the opposite direction to the other. After a couple of minutes, Nami relented, turning back towards Bellamy. "Why me though? Why are you so pissed off at me?"

Bellamy didn't bother turning to look at Nami. "It ain't you I'm pissed of at, it's Monkey D Luffy."

Nami scoffed. "Oh, I get it. You don't go after Luffy, because you know he'd kick your sorry ass, so you target me. That's pathetic."

Bellamy whipped his head around to glare at her, Nami clearly touching a raw nerve there. "That ain't it at all! I have orders that I can't touch that bastard, that's why I'm forced to go after you!"

Nami raised an eyebrow. Now she was getting somewhere. "Orders? From who?"

Bellamy grinned, figuring Nami wouldn't know anything about Doflamingo. "Joker."

What he didn't realise was that Nami knew a lot about him. Her eyes widened. "You're working for Doflamingo?"

Bellamy gritted his teeth, he didn't think Nami would know who Joker was. "What, how do you know about Joker? Looks like I really will have to kill you…"

Nami was about to retort when they heard the sound of a door opening. From outside the dark room they were in, Nami could make out the sound of the voice of the bony man from before, followed by a second familiar voice. After listening for a couple of seconds, Nami quietly gasped, recognising the voice to be Coby's. She was about to call out when the door opened, light flooding into the room. Nami looked up to see the pink haired teen smiling relievedly at her.

"Nami! Thank God you're safe!"

He was about to step towards her, when he was yanked back by Ryuuma, pulling him back into the main room of the factory. Ryuuma didn't bother shutting the door, meaning Nami could see everything. The main room was largely filled with crates, although there was a space cleared in the centre where Nami could see that Coby was now standing besides Helmeppo. Ryuuma was standing between the two and the room Nami was in, his back to her.

"The girl is safe," Ryuuma stated. "Do you have the money you owe Mr Moriah?"

Helmeppo gulped. "We have… money."

Ryuuma maintained his neutral expression. "That's not answering my question," he said evenly.

Helmeppo clutched his bag tighter. "We… we couldn't get the whole amount on such notice, but there's over $3000 here."

Ryuuma continued to stare calmly at Coby and Helmeppo, neither of the two knowing what he was thinking. Suddenly, quick as a flash, Ryuuma closed the distance between the two teenagers and himself. Before either of them could blink, he had already lifted Helmeppo up by his collar. "The boss asked for the full amount…" he muttered threateningly.

"Helmeppo!" Coby shouted. "Wait, Ryuuma, we can-"

Coby was interrupted by the sound of the factory front door opening. "Kishishishi… did I hear that correctly? $3000? That's it?"

Coby froze. He knew that voice. He had to force his body to turn around to face the man who had just entered the room.

Gecko Moriah grinned the second Coby's eyes met his. He reached into his pocket, taking out a gun, much to Coby's horror. That was honestly why he'd done it. Just to see the frightened look on Coby's face.

He strolled up to teenager, an amused smirk plastered across his face the whole time. When Moriah finally reached Coby, after what seemed like an eternity, he pressed the gun against Coby's forehead. "Kishishishishi… Stop kidding around Coby. Where's the rest of the money?"

Nami stared wide eyed at the scene outside, the situation she was in really sinking in now. It wasn't just the two outside, she too was in serious trouble. Coby met Moriah's gaze, trying as best he could to keep his composure and not let his enemy see how terrified he was. "That…. is all the money we could gather for tonight. If you just give us a week, we can get the rest."

"Hmm…" Moriah hummed loudly, his amused smirk remaining intact. "No deal."

Helmeppo's eyes widened. "Wait!" he shouted, before Moriah could do pull the trigger. The gang boss turned around and grinned at him, still not removing the gun from Coby's temple.

"Ah, Helmeppo, my boy, I trust you're about to tell me why I shouldn't blow young Coby here's head off, right?"

"I… I can get more money, tonight, right now! J… Just let Coby and Nami go, I promise in an hour I'll have all your money!"

Helmeppo looked hopefully at Moriah, praying that his offer would be enough to convince him to spare Coby. Moriah just looked blankly at Helmeppo for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing. "Kishishishi… you are a little worm, aren't you Helmeppo? Now your brother… he was a weakling, just like you, but he never did this… standing in front of someone like me, whining like a little girl. I gave you a chance to give me my money, and you failed, so now it's too late."

As if to emphasise this point, Ryuuma tightened his grip around Helmeppo's collar. He shoved the teenager roughly into the wall of the factory, before releasing Helmeppo's shirt from his right hand, still keeping hold with his left. He withdrew the free right arm, before punching Helmeppo hard in the gut, causing the blonde to cough up blood. Moriah laughed happily as Ryuuma let the teenager fall to the ground in agony. He turned to face his boss.

"Which one should I torture first, the girl or Coby?" He asked in an alarmingly calm manner. Moriah chuckled yet again, pressing his gun harder against Coby's head.

"I say we start with the girl. I think poor Coby here's had enough for now."

Nami was about to cry out at the sight of Ryuuma approaching the open door to the room she and Bellamy were in when the lights in the factory suddenly went off, everything instantly going pitch black. Nami could hear Ryuuma running towards her, however before he could reach the room the door slammed closed, Nami hearing someone locking it behind them.

"What going on?" Moriah shouted into the darkness, Nami praying that Coby had used the opportunity to get away.

"Boss, I'm gonna go turn the power back on!" Ryuuma shouted back, Nami hearing his pounding footsteps running away from her now.

Suddenly, Nami felt someone put their arm on her shoulder. The person switched their phone on, illuminating their body. Nami smiled widely at the familiar face. "Robin!"

Her best friend smiled relievedly back at her. "Nami, I'm so glad you're OK. Sorry we're late."

"We?" Bellamy asked from the other side of the room. Robin, not realising he was there, jumped slightly. When her heart had restarted, she flashed her phone in Bellamy's direction. She blinked in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, his presence not something she was comfortable with even if he was handcuffed.

"It doesn't matter," Nami said before Bellamy could likely insult Robin in response. "Listen Robin, Coby and Helmeppo-"

"It's fine, Zoro will save them, plus Sanji and the rest of the guys are on their way. We just need to focus on getting out of here," Robin interrupted, untying Nami's bindings. She looked over to Bellamy. "Hang on, I'll get you free too…"

Bellamy shook his handcuffs against the pole. "You need the key."

Robin shook her head. "I don't have it. One of the two in the factory probably do. I-"

The dark haired teen was interrupted by the sound of someone hammering on the door. "Who's there?" Gecko Moriah shouted, sounding absolutely enraged. "When Ryuuma restores the power and returns with the keys, I'm gonna fucking kill you all!"

Robin ignored the threat, making note of the fact that it the other man besides Moriah who had the keys. That meant that it was up to Zoro.

######

Ryuuma opened the door to the factory's power room, knowing even in the dark where everything in the building was. The generator and switch were on the far side of the room. Ryuuma was about to walk over to them, when he remembered the fact that there were intruders. Sure, there was definitely one in the room were Bellamy and Nami were, but he didn't know if that was the only one in their hideout.

"Is there anyone there?" he called out, no traces of nervousness or fear in his voice despite the current situation.

When there was no sound, not even of anyone moving in the dark room, Ryuuma hesitantly moved forwards. He still was far from convinced he was alone, but he had to turn the power back on. He reached the generator's switch, turning the power back on. However as soon as the light had returned to both the room and the factory, Ryuuma's suspicion was proven to be correct when Zoro emerged from his hiding spot behind the open door and tackled Ryuuma to the ground. The bony man reached for his gun in his pocket, but Zoro stamped on his arm before he could, causing Ryuuma to cry out in pain. Zoro, thinking Ryuuma was done, let his guard down however the bony man using this opportunity to roughly push Zoro off him.

Zoro, sent tumbling backwards, just about evaded Ryuuma's attempt to pin him down. He quickly picked himself up and swung at Ryuuma, who dodged it, landing a kick on Zoro's sides. The teenager staggered to side slightly from the impact, seemingly give Moriah's henchman an opening. Ryuuma tried a punch, but Zoro recovered just in time, blocking it with both arms.

"Who are you?" Ryuuma asked through gritted teeth, for the first time that night seemingly losing his cool.

Zoro smirked. "I'm Coby's friend. You're done messing with him, got it? Or else you'll have to answer to me."

Ryuuma didn't respond, instead swinging another wild punch at Zoro, who caught it. He roughly pulled Ryuuma towards him, grabbing Gecko Moriah's henchman by the collar and roughly shoving him against the wall. "Is this familiar?"

And in the same way that Ryuuma had punched Helmeppo in the gut earlier, Zoro dug his fist into Ryuuma's stomach, the only difference being his attack was twice as powerful. Ryuuma gasped in sheer pain, Zoro's punch seemingly squeezing the life out of him. As Zoro withdrew his fist, Ryuuma slumped forwards, unconscious, falling to the ground when Zoro had released him. Ryuuma's keys slipped out of his pocket when his body hit the ground. Zoro reached down and took them, figuring they might come in handy. He glanced back at the window through which he and Robin had originally entered the factory, figuring that would be the best escape route when he had Coby and Helmeppo.

Zoro quietly slipped out of the room, quickly crouching down behind a crate before Moriah, who was prowling the main room of the factory, saw him. The gang boss was standing alone on the other side of the room, presumably searching for Coby and Helmeppo who seemed to have found their own hiding places whilst the power was off. Zoro figured could probably have taken Moriah in a fist fight, but he knew that the gang boss was armed. But at the same time he couldn't just lay hiding forever. If Moriah found Coby or Helmeppo, they'd be in huge trouble. That meant that Zoro had to act now.

The green haired teen stood up from behind the crate he was hiding behind, alerting Moriah. Quick as a flash, Zoro darted back into the generator room, only just evading a couple of bullets Moriah sent his way. The gang boss swore loudly before running after Zoro.

When he'd disappeared into the generator room, Coby and Helmeppo emerged from their respective hiding spots, eerily close to the area Moriah had been searching before he'd been distracted by Zoro. They crept over to the room where Robin, Nami and Bellamy were. Coby quietly knocked on the door, although he probably didn't need to be so cautious given Moriah's attention was fully on Zoro at this point. "Hey!" he whispered urgently. "Moriah's gone, let us in!"

Robin complied, instantly opening the door and locking it as soon as the two younger teenagers were in. She smiled relievedly at them. "I'm glad you're both OK. What happened to Moriah?"

"He's gone chasing after Zoro. He really saved our lives, if he hadn't distracted Moriah when he had, we would be goners."

Robin gulped slightly, hoping Zoro would be OK. Nami nudged her supportively. "Don't worry about Zoro. That guy's been in way worse situations than this. He'll be fine."

######

Moriah scowled at the sight of his unconscious subordinate on the floor of the generator room. "You got beaten by that kid Ryuuma? Pathetic."

The gang boss kicked Ryuuma's body in frustration once, before turning his attention to the open window through which he assumed Zoro had escaped. He tightened his grip around his gun before climbing out of the window himself. "I swear, I'm gonna kill this runt."

What Moriah didn't realise was that Zoro had never escaped the factory. After Moriah had gone out of the window, Zoro waited for a few seconds before emerging from his hiding place behind the door, the same one he had used when ambushing Ryuuma earlier. He shut and locked the window, seeing Moriah disappearing around the corner in the distance. "He's gone… for now," Zoro muttered to himself.

Zoro quickly made his way over to the locked door where his friends were waiting. He knocked on the door. "Robin, open up, it's me. Moriah's gone, but I don't know for how long, so we need to hurry."

Robin quickly unlocked the door, letting Zoro in. He scanned the faces in the room, smirking at Coby, Helmeppo and Nami before his eyes reached Bellamy. He frowned, confused as to why the blonde was there. Nami sighed. "It's a long story. Listen, Bellamy's handcuffs need a key-"

Zoro reached into his pocket, showing the keys he'd taken from Ryuuma earlier to Nami. "Is it one of these?"

"Hopefully," Nami replied, taking the keys from Zoro and making her way over to the still pissed off looking Bellamy. She tried a couple before finally finding one which fit. As soon as she had unlocked Bellamy's handcuffs, the blonde looked away from her, scowling at the wall behind him.

"Th… thanks…" he said quietly. Nami smiled slightly, before turning back to Zoro, Robin, Coby and Helmeppo.

"Well, now that that's done, let's go."

The group were about to get moving when they heard the doors of the factory open again. The six teenagers froze, thinking Moriah had returned. However, instead of hearing the gang boss' characteristic laugh, they heard a different familiar voice.

"Nami! Robin! Where are you? Your prince is here!"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Shut up Love Cook! We're trying to be quiet in here!"

The door of the room swung open, revealing Sanji and the rest of the group, Violet standing a little further back. Chopper smiled relievedly. "Nami! You're OK!"

"Listen, we have to go now," Zoro said, him not letting his guard down yet. "I was able to trick that Moriah into leaving, but he's gonna give up trying to find me at some point and return back here. We need to go before that happens. We can save the celebrating for when we're actually safe."

Everyone nodded, Zoro's words reminding them that they weren't out of the woods yet.

######

"So what happened Nami?" Usopp asked. "How did you run into those guys?"

It was nearly three in the morning now. After escaping the factory, the group, minus Coby and Helmeppo who had gone to the police, had returned to Nami's house and were currently camped out in her living room. Nami shrugged.

"I don't really know. I was just walking back from the restaurant where I met Hatchi and Keimi when they appeared. I don't know if they were following me, or whatever. Although… they may have been following Bellamy."

"Where did those two go anyway?" Franky grumbled, still a little annoyed that they'd ended up helping Bellamy and Violet. Zoro shook his head.

"I dunno. At some point on the way back here those two slipped away. It's fine, we'll see them at school on Monday anyway."

Sanji's eyebrow twitched, the blonde still furious at Bellamy. "It's not fine. That shithead attacked Nami in the first place, this is all his fault. I swear I'll beat the shit out of him when I see him next…"

Surprisingly Nami shook her head. "It's fine, there's no need for that. I think Bellamy's learned his lesson."

The orange haired girl ignored the shocked look her friends were giving her, expecting that she'd be the most angry at Bellamy. But there was something about the way that Bellamy had awkwardly thanked her when she'd unlocked his handcuffs that made Nami feel that Bellamy may have changed slightly on the back of their shared experience that night.

Sanji frowned, crossing his arms. "I still don't trust that guy, I swear if he tries to do anything else, I'm kicking his ass."

Suddenly Nami clapped her hands together, smiling brightly. It was weird. She had, by all accounts, had a terrible night. But the way it had ended, all her friends, bar Luffy, together in her house had definitely cheered her up. It was what she had wanted at the beginning of the evening after all. "What's important is that everything worked out and we're all safe now. Thanks so much for saving me guys. You're all really great friends."

######

"And just what did you think you were doing, telling them about Joker?" Violet said angrily, still scolding Bellamy as they made the journey back to his house. Violet figured she should probably accompany him in case there was any more trouble with Moriah's men. She didn't really care about Bellamy's safety herself, but she figured Doflamingo would want her to look out for him.

Bellamy scowled at her. "Who cares, Joker can easily crush these losers. If we call him now, he'll probably send some of his best guys over to deal with them."

Violet rolled her eyes. "I doubt that. He didn't send anyone to help me get you back after all."

Bellamy grinned. "I'm sure it'll be different if I ask him. I'm someone who's actually loyal to Joker after all."

Violet ignored that comment, following Bellamy into the apartment complex where he lived. After climbing a couple of flights of stairs, the two finally reached Bellamy's place, although the blonde froze at the sight which greeted him.

The door was wide open.

Violet gritted her teeth; Looked like there was going to be some more trouble. She nudged Bellamy forwards, noticing the blonde was shaking slightly. Looked like the night's experience had affected him more than he let on.

"Who's there!" Bellamy shouted.

"No need to sound so hostile! It's only me!" a childish voice replied teasingly. It was now Violet's turn to freeze. Now that was a voice she hadn't heard in a while...

"D… Dellinger?"

Bellamy grinned at the sound of that name. He'd never met Dellinger personally, but he'd heard about him. To him, it was a huge honour to meet one of Doflamingo's most trusted men. "O..oh, Mr Dellinger! I… I'm sorry!"

With it seeming like the danger was gone, Bellamy and Violet entered the room, although the latter still hadn't let her guard down totally. Sure enough, sitting there was a youngish looking blonde man, wearing a baseball cap with devil horns on. He smiled cheerfully at Violet. "Ah Violet, long time no see! From what I've heard, the SMILE situation is going well! I'm glad!"

Violet didn't answer, noticing that Dellinger wasn't acknowledging Bellamy at all. That wasn't a good sign. Unfortunately for him, Bellamy didn't notice this, moving so that he was directly in front of the seated Dellinger. He bowed his head slightly. "M… Mr Dellinger. It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm-"

Before he could complete his sentence, in one swift motion Dellinger stood up and lifted the much larger Bellamy up by his collar. He forcefully rammed him against the wall of the room, his cheerful smile never disappearing. "Bellamy, right? I know. Joker's told me about you."

"Wh… Why?" Bellamy gasped, unable to struggle out of Dellinger's grip.

"I think you've been up to no good," Dellinger said in a sing-song voice. "From what I saw you got your ass kicked by one of Gecko Moriah's guys before having to be saved by Violet. That's kinda pathetic, don't ya think?"

Violet's eyes widened. How did Dellinger know that? Had he been watching them the whole time? Had he known what was going on and hadn't intervened to help them? Was it possible that… the reason he hadn't intervened was that he didn't care about what happened to Bellamy? "Have you been here this whole time?"

Dellinger nodded, maintaining his grip on Bellamy. "Joker spoke to Bellamy earlier this week. He was worried this guy would do something stupid, so he sent me to watch him."

Violet looked at the gasping Bellamy. "Why didn't you try to save him when he was captured?"

"I asked Joker, but he said to leave it to you. Honestly, I'm pretty impressed that you saved him Violet," Dellinger replied, "But after I'd seen you do that, I called the boss, and he told me to kill this guy anyway. Said that he couldn't have losers like Bellamy associated with him."

"B… But Joker said…" Bellamy choked.

Dellinger smiled cheerfully at the teenager. "Did you really think someone like you could work for Joker? Goodbye Bellamy."

**Looks like Bellamy's in trouble, wonder what's gonna happen to him. **

**Anyway, hope you liked the chapter. The next one could be a while, so sorry about that, but I hope that you won't lose patience with me. Thanks for reading and please review if you have the time. **


	18. Monkey D Dragon

**Quick thanks to Orlaith for getting review number 100 for the story. I didn't even realise you still read me tbh, so good to see you again.**

"Remember honey… if they ask you something difficult, just try to remain calm and think of the answer."

Robin forced a smile for her worried looking mother. That was at least the hundredth time she'd heard that exact same advice from teachers, other students or even her mother herself.

It was mid-December now and it had been around a month since the incident with Gecko Moriah. Things had settled down again since then and the past few weeks had been pretty trouble-free, which as it turned out was a good thing for Robin.

Over the next week, Robin had interviews at her first choice college. She'd spent most of the past couple of weeks preparing, getting practise interviews from teachers at school. From the easy going Mr Shanks to the hard-ass Mr Smoker, Robin had a range of experience in how to deal with different styles of interviewer and had been feeling pretty confident.

Until this morning at least. She would have three interviews (at least) at the college, and her first was tomorrow, early in the morning. She'd spend most of today travelling with Nami, who also had interviews at the same college, and then that was it. The 'games' would begin. Having spent weeks now practising, the real thing felt terrifying. At least at the end of the practise interviews, she'd always just taken the advice from the teachers and then moved onto the next interview. But after these interviews, there was no next interview.

"Hey Robin!" Nami shouted from the car. Her mother Bellemere was going to drive them to the train station and it looked like the orange haired girl was nervous that they'd miss their train if they didn't get a move on.

Robin turned back to Olivia. "I think we should probably get going…"

Olivia nodded. "Y…Yeah. Good luck honey. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks. Bye mom."

With that Robin hugged her mother once before joining Nami in the back of the car, Bellemere setting off as soon as Robin was set.

"Man, can you believe this," Bellemere drawled from the driver's seat. "I feel like it was just yesterday you were a little girl running around in the back garden and now you're going for college interviews Nami! Kids really do grow up so fast…"

Nami rolled her eyes as her mother started tearing up slightly. "Mom…"

"Don't make that face! One day when you have kids you'll know how this feels like!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever… So Robin, your first interview's tomorrow, right?"

Robin nodded, reaching into her handbag for her interview timetable. "Yeah, it's at 11.30. With a… Professor Dragon?"

"What a weird name…" Nami muttered.

######

Luffy blinked. "Who're these guys?"

It was Sunday morning and Garp was holding a training session for the local Sunday League team. Thankfully for Luffy, he was no longer eligible to play for the Sunday League team, so he was merely Garp's assistant today. What he wasn't expecting though, was the overload of new faces in the squad.

Garp looked around the pitch, where he'd sent the squad for a run. "They're new players. Although honestly, I don't recognise all of them…"

"Well I recognise Barto and Cabbage, but I'm not sure about the others…"

Garp blew his whistle loudly, signalling for the players to stop running and gather around him. After they had done so, Garp glanced back at Luffy before addressing the whole group. "I notice there are quite a lot of new faces here, so I figure some introductions are in order before we begin training. I'm sure you all know me, but this is Luffy, my grandson. He's my assistant coach as of today."

Luffy's eyes lit up. He hadn't realised that he was actually going to get a permanent position as Garp's second in command. "Really Grandpa! Thanks!"

Garp ignored that and turned to Bartolomeo. "I think I recognise you. You're the keeper from that team we played in the summer."

Bartolomeo saluted Garp. "Yes sir, Luffy's Grandfather sir! It's a huge honour to play for you sir, Luffy's Grandfather sir!"

Garp blinked, surprised by Bartolomeo's enthusiasm, before smirking. "I like your attitude kid. And who're you Blondie?"

Cavendish glared at Garp, clearly not happy with his new nickname. "I'm Cavendish. In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a big deal. You see, I used to be captain and the best player in-"

"Whatever," Garp interrupted, turning to the next new face. It was a man in his mid-twenties with long dark haired tied in a ponytail and slightly abnormally long looking arms. "And you?"

The man grinned. "I'm Ideo. I just moved here a couple of weeks ago. You know, back home they used to call me "Destruction Cannon" Ideo, because my shots were that good-"

Ideo was interrupted by another new player scoffing. He glared at said man, a tanned man with shaggy brown hair and side-burns. "Something funny?"

"'Destruction Cannon'? Did you give yourself that lame nickname?"

"Eh?"

The tanned man smirked. "I'm Sai. And I-"

"Oi jerk," Ideo grunted. "I wasn't done introducing myself before you interrupted me."

"Is that so? What're you gonna do about it?"

Before the two could lunge at each other, a giant man with long brown hair stepped between the two. "Enough, you two. We're a team now, so we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves."

Ideo glared at the giant man. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Hajrudin. If you don't calm down, I'll be forced to take action…"

Garp, watching the whole exchange, rolled his eyes. "Where do we get these guys…?"

Suddenly, another large blond man with carefully braided hair laughed. "Haha, it seems like everyone's all fired up!"

Cavendish looked over the blonde man, thinking he looked familiar. "I think I remember you… You're called Orlumbus, right? I think I played against you before."

Bartolomeo glanced over at him casually. "You lost, right?"

Cavendish glared at him. "Of course I didn't! I told you already, I'm the best player there is!"

"No you ain't, that's Luffy, moron!"

"Oi, don't call me a moron jackass!"

With that, Cavendish lunged at Bartolomeo, Hajrudin stepping between the two just in time to prevent a conflict. Garp groaned. "I can see this is going to go well… If you've got enough energy to screw around bickering, then you have enough energy to run. Ten more laps around the park, maybe then you'll be a little less hyper…"

Zoro and Sanji watched as the squad slowly departed, the tension between Sai, Ideo and Hajrudin and then Bartolomeo and Cavendish obvious. Sanji looked at Zoro, before the two set off slowly after the rest of the team. "Is that what we're always like?"

######

"Trafalgar?"

Law, who had been staring out of the window, turned towards the aisle of the train. Nami and Robin gave him a surprised look. He smirked slightly. "Hey. Fancy seeing you guys here…"

Nami nodded. "I'll say. I mean, I knew you had interviews too, but I didn't think you'd be on the same train as us!"

"Well, there can't be that many trains heading to Baltigo today," Law replied. "Besides, I'm not the only one from school on here."

Nami smiled, genuinely pleased to know that they're be more familiar faces. "Really? Who else?"

"That 'big brother' of Straw-hat-ya's. I saw him getting on further down the train."

Nami gasped. "Sabo? He's here?"

"Yeah. I wonder what business he has over there…"

With that, Nami immediately put her bags down on the pair of seats on the opposite side of the table to Law and began walking down the train. She glanced back at the confused Law and Robin once. "Save me a seat, I'm gonna go and see if I can find him quickly before the train starts!"

Robin blinked as Nami disappeared from sight, into the next carriage. "Well that's unlike her… Normally she can't stand Sabo."

#######

Luffy grinned, slinging his arms around the still exhausted Zoro and Sanji. Training had finished about fifteen minutes ago and the two had gotten dressed, but they were still totally out of breath from Garp's training session. "So hey, do you guys wanna go get something to eat? I'm so hungry!"

Zoro glared at Luffy, who had spent the whole previous hour laughing at him and Sanji as they were put through their paces by Garp. "How the hell are you hungry? We were the ones training!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "This idiot's always hungry… But, I can't anyway. Hancock's got interviews at Baltigo, like Nami and Robin, so I'm driving her down today."

"Why doesn't she just take the train like everyone else?" Zoro asked.

"She doesn't like trains, or public transport in general. Says there are too many pervs checking her out."

"And because of that she's making you drive, what, 8 hours there and back to Baltigo. You really are a stupid love cook, aren't you?"

Sanji glared at him. "Please, any gentleman would do such a thing for their lady. In fact, this is nothing! I would drive 8000 hours for my sweet darling Hancock…"

"Hey, can I come?" Luffy asked suddenly, interrupting Sanji. Zoro looked confusedly at Luffy.

"Why?"

Luffy grinned. "Nami left really early this morning, so I didn't get a chance to see her and tell her good luck! Ooh, and we could see Robin and Traffie too if we go! You should totally come with us Zoro!"

Zoro groaned. "I dunno, it's like 8 hours there and back…."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "What does that matter, it's not like you've got anything better to do. You were probably planning on just going home and spending the whole afternoon napping, weren't you?"

"Was not!"

Luffy patted Zoro heartily on the back. "You can do that in the car Zoro! And hey, we should get Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook to come too! It'll be like a road trip!"

Sanji shook his head. "Stop getting carried away. How the hell am I gonna fit all you guys plus Hancock's stuff in my car?"

Luffy's eyes lit up. "We can take Sunny! Yeah, let's call Franky now!"

#######

"So how're things with Luffy?"

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Wow. I've just sat down and already you're on that…"

The man sat across the table from Sabo in the first class carriage narrowed his eyes at the blonde man. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I needed to engage in a certain amount of compulsory small talk before asking about my own son."

Sabo sighed. "Alright alright, take it easy. Anyway, to answer your question, things haven't really progressed. Luffy's been busy with this whole Dressrosa situation. He's spending most of his weekends out of town and when he's at school, there's only so much time I can spend with him. We're still not close enough for me to… you know… bring this up."

"I'm beginning to lose patience Sabo. I travelled all the way down here just so I could discuss matter with you on the journey back to Baltigo, and all I hear is this… How long must I wait?"

Sabo glared at Monkey D Dragon. "Well if you're losing patience, why don't you go and actually meet Luffy yourself? Why am I the one you're relying on to bring Luffy to you. You said it yourself, he's your son after all."

Dragon looked out of the window, away from the seething Sabo. "You know why I can't. But fine… I'll leave this to you."

"Thanks. Listen, I understand how you feel, but this needs to be done properly. I promise-"

"Hey, Sabo!"

Sabo looked down the aisle at the sound of the familiar voice, his eyes widening when he saw Nami standing by the carriage entrance. "N.. Nami?"

Nami smiled as she made her way down the carriage towards where Sabo and Dragon were sitting. "First class huh? Wow, you sure travel in style."

When Nami reached the seats, she paused when she saw Dragon. "Oh sorry, I didn't realise you were with someone. I'm sorry if I interrupted…"

Sabo shook his head quickly. "No, it's fine. This is a friend of mine. He's… uh…"

"Dragon," Dragon said. Nami smiled at him.

"I'm Nami, I'm a student at Sabo's school."

Dragon nodded. He knew who Nami was. One of the first things Sabo had told him back in September was about Luffy's beautiful girlfriend. As he looked at Nami for the first time, Dragon couldn't help but feel a bit of weird pride, knowing his son was with a girl that looked like this. Not that he showed said pride outwardly though, his expression remaining neutral.

"So what is it?" Sabo asked, wanting to get Nami away from Dragon as soon as possible. If she found out who the man sitting opposite him really was, it was game over.

"Oh well, I thought if you were sitting alone you could come sit with us in the other carriage, but if you're with someone, I'll leave you two to it."

"Us?"

"Yeah, me, Robin and Law."

"But why… Oh that's right the interviews…"

The fact that it was interview week at Baltigo had completely slipped Sabo's mind. This was bad, what if Nami, Robin or Law had an interview with Dragon? They absolutely couldn't find out who Dragon was, under any circumstances.

Nami cleared her throat, bring Sabo back to Earth. "Well, I'm gonna head back to Robin and Law. See you in Baltigo Sabo! Oh, and you too Mr Dragon!"

As Nami turned around and left, Sabo immediately looked seriously at Dragon. "I need a list of all the students you'll be interviewing this week. Now."

######

"So hey, can we talk?"

Robin sighed. There was something about the tone of Law's voice which she didn't like. Why did Nami have to run off like that? "About what?"

"About our kiss," Law bluntly replied. Robin frowned at him.

"We didn't kiss."

"It pretty much was…"

"No, it wasn't" Robin firmly replied. "Besides, it happened nearly two months ago now. Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

Robin sighed, looking out of the window. "What does that mean…"

"I want to know if you still have feelings for me."

Robin squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't say things like that…"

"Just tell me. Yes or No."

Robin smirked bitterly. "Have you forgotten about Monet so quickly…"

"I don't think Monet's dead," Law replied, surprising Robin. "I think Vergo made that up to mess with me. If he caught her, Joker could use her to get to me, plus she worked with Caesar so she may know important information regarding Caesar's experiments which Joker could use. I doubt he'd kill her for no reason."

"Well if that's the case, then-"

"I love Monet," Law interrupted. "But I also love you. Do you not think it's possible to be in love with two people? Is it not the same for you, Robi-"

"It's not," Robin sharply replied. Law was about to say something when the carriage door opened, Nami finally re-entering. He sighed and looked out of the window, determined to continue this conversation later.

######

"Looks like we're SUPER set here!" Franky cheered as Usopp closed the back door of the Thousand Sunny. Luffy, sitting in the front seat alongside Franky, glanced back at Zoro(already sleeping), Usopp, Chopper and Brook in the back before throwing both his hands in the air.

"Yosh! Let's go!"

"Don't forget we need to go to Hancock's house to pick up her and Sanji," Usopp reminded. "It's gonna be a tight squeeze to fit her, him and all her bags in here though…"

Luffy was about to reply with something along the lines of 'don't worry(about the laws of physics), it will all work out' when his phone buzzed. He looked at it. "Ooh, a text from Sanji. 'Already set off with Hancock in my car. Didn't want to shove a beautiful lady like her in the back of that shitty car with you creeps. I'll meet you guys in Baltigo.'"

There was a moment's pause before Usopp spoke. "Well that was harsh…"

Suddenly Franky burst into tears, rubbing the dashboard affectionately. "Don't listen to him Sunny, you're the best SUPER car in the whole world!"

"I was more offended by the 'creeps' part," Usopp muttered, although Franky ignored him. Chopper looked over at the dozing Zoro.

"Good thing Zoro didn't hear what Sanji said…"

Luffy however laughed heartily. "It's fine, we'll meet him in Baltimo with Nami, Robin and Traffie anyway!"

"It's Baltigo…" Usopp muttered, although he was once again ignored, this time by Luffy.

"Let's go Franky!"


	19. Baltigo

**Hey guys, I'm so happy to be writing this story again. It means a lot that people have been actually bugging me to update this since I didn't think that anyone was even still bothered about this story. So yeah, I'll try and be better from now on. But you know, I have a full time job and so I really don't have a huge amount of free time. So Idk how often I'll be able to update, but I will try my best. **

Nami excitedly nudged Robin, their train finally rolling into Baltigo. it was late afternoon now but since it was December at this point, it was nearly totally dark now, the skyline of the city a view worth waking up her dozing best friend for. "Robin, look, we're here!"

Robin eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked drearily at Nami, who nodded in the direction of the window. Robin complied, looking out just to see their train pull into the station. "Here we are…"

Law stood up, taking both Robin and Nami's bags down from the overhead storage and handing them to the two girls before taking his own. "The college is about a half an hour walk from the station. That, or we could split a cab…"

"What about Sabo?" Nami asked. "I was hoping we'd meet him after getting off the train before leaving for the college."

Law shrugged. "Alright then, I have no problems with that."

And so the three made their way off the train onto the platform, Nami immediately heading towards the back end of the train where Sabo's carriage was, Law and Robin trailing behind her. Her timing ended up being perfect, Nami reaching Sabo's carriage just as he and Dragon emerged from the train. Sabo gulped. He had been hoping to avoid Nami, hence why he'd waited a bit before getting off the train. Nami smiled at him.

Over the last month or so, Nami had began to realise just how important Sabo was to Luffy. Every day, without fail, Sabo would stop by their homeroom in the morning to say good morning to Luffy and the rest of the gang. The teaching assistant was also always trying to spend as much time as he could with Luffy, offering to drive Luffy wherever if he asked, or offering to accompany him to Dressrosa. Sabo wanted to be at Luffy's beck and call, as if he was making up for lost time. Although Nami had initially been jealous of Sabo and the attention Luffy gave him, Nami had begun to realise just how happy Luffy was to have Sabo back in his life and this made Nami realise that she should be happy too for Luffy's sake that Sabo was around now. If the man she loved was happy, then she was happy too.

"Hey you two! How was your journey?" Nami asked.

Sabo glanced at Dragon, really wanting to get him as far away from Nami as possible. "Oh, uh… great…"

"So whereabouts are you two headed now?"

"Oh nowhere…" Sabo quickly replied, although Dragon cleared his throat.

"Actually, we're going to get some dinner before going to the college."

Sabo shot Dragon a warning look as Nami gasped. "You guys are going to the college too?"

Dragon nodded. "That's right, Sabo told me you and your friends would be interviewing here this week. I actually happen to be a Professor at Baltigo."

Sabo kicked Dragon in the back of his foot, but that didn't stop him talking. "In fact, from what Sabo has told me, I'll be interviewing a student from your school tomorrow. A Nico Robin I believe?"

Nami mentally slapped herself. "Of course, I thought your name sounded familiar earlier. Robin told me she was being interviewed by Mr Dragon earlier today…"

Dragon smirked. "You know, you should join us for dinner, along with the rest of your friends. My treat."

Sabo's eyes widened as Nami beamed. "Really? Thanks, I'm sure Robin would love to get a chance to talk to you! I'll just go and get her and Law. One sec…"

As Nami walked away, Sabo glared at Dragon. "What the hell are you thinking! We need to keep you as far away as possible from those three! And why did you mention the interview, I told you you had to find a professor to switch with you!"

"Why is any of that necessary?" Dragon asked. "They don't know who I am. This is the perfect opportunity for me to get to know Luffy's friends. Plus, if I can make a good impression with them now, that may help matters when the time comes…"

"Or it may totally fuck things up when they find out you've lied to them!"

"When have I lied? I simply haven't told them the complete truth."

"You think they're really going to accept that?" Sabo asked angrily. Dragon shrugged.

"Who knows, but don't forget Sabo… I'm the one who's in charge here."

Sabo sighed. "Fine… but if this goes up in flames*, it's on you…."

######

Usopp yawned, him and Franky the only people who were still awake. They'd been driving for over three and a half hours now. "Are you sure you don't want to take a break and let someone else drive? I mean, we're nearly there, but still…"

Franky shook his head. "No way! Only I can drive Sunny!"

"I'm not that bad a driver, you know…"

Franky laughed. "You know it's not about that…"

Usopp was about to reply when he noticed a sign coming up on the left. "Oh, our exit's coming up. We're finally here!"

As soon as Usopp had said that, Luffy's eyes shot open. "Yosh! Wake up everybody, WE'RE HERE!"

Luffy's shout was enough to wake up Chopper and Brook, but Zoro continued to sleep soundly. Luffy grinned and reached behind his chair. He punched Zoro in the side of his arm, finally waking up the green haired teen. Zoro scowled at his laughing best friend. "Luffy! What the hell was that for?"

"We're here!"

"Wow," Chopper gushed, looking out of the window. "This sure is a big city huh?"

Usopp nodded. "Totally. Say, I wonder whether Sanji and Hancock have got here yet. Maybe you should text them Luffy."

"Text Robin too," Zoro said. "Maybe we could grab a bite to eat with her and the others before going back."

Franky gulped slightly. "That's right, we have to drive back, huh? I SUPER forgot…"

Brook frowned. "I could drive on the way back if you'd like Franky."

Usopp snorted. "Forget about it. No one drives the Sunny but Franky apparently."

"Well, maybe we can find somewhere to stay tonight," Chopper suggested. "It'll be fun, like a sleepover."

"But we have school tomorrow," Usopp replied.

"So?" Zoro said. "Missing one day won't make that much of a difference. Robin, Nami, Law and Hancock are missing the whole week."

"Yeah, but they have a reason."

Luffy laughed. "Don't worry, we'll come up with something. But for now, I want to eat! I'm so hungry!"

Usopp rolled his eyes. "As always, Luffy's stomach comes before the actual problem at hand…"

######

Nami's eyes lit up as she looked at her phone. Her, Robin, Law, Sabo and Dragon were seated in a restaurant a short distance from the college. After the five had taken two separate cabs to the college, Dragon and Sabo had given the three teenagers about an hour to find the rooms they'd be staying in for the week and get settled in before the five had met up at the main entrance and headed over to the restaurant. Robin looked over Nami's shoulder, wanting to see what she was so happy about. "Oh my, did Luffy and the others really come all this way here?"

Dragon's eyes widened at the sound of that name. He looked over at Sabo, who was choking on his drink. When he recovered, he looked worriedly at Nami. "Luffy's here? In Baltigo?!"

"Yeah, he, Zoro, Franky, Usopp and Chopper drove all the way here in the Sunny. Wow, that must have been such a long journey! Apparently Sanji and Hancock are here too."

Dragon smirked. "Is that so? More friends of yours? Invite them here."

Law blinked. "Are you serious? All of them?"

Dragon shook his head dismissively. "Don't worry about me, I've got more than enough money. Plus, I'd love to get to meet more of Sabo's students."

Sabo looked desperately at Dragon, who ignored him, whilst Nami beamed. "Thank you so much! That's so generous of you! But we insist of splitting the bill."

Dragon shrugged. "I'm more than happy to pay for everything, but if that's the only way you'll invite the rest of your friends, then so be it."

Sabo gulped as Nami began excitedly texting Luffy back. This was going to be an interesting night, that's for sure.

######

Sanji looked over at Hancock, hearing her shiver slightly in the cold December evening. The two were currently walking over to the restaurant Nami and the others were in, her having texted him the address. He smirked and put his arm around Hancock, her gladly cuddling into the side of his body as they walked. Sanji grinned widely, his eyes turning to hearts. "I'm so happy! I still can't believe such a beautiful lady like yourself chose me-"

"WE HA HA HA HA HA!"

Hancock tensed at the sound of the following scream coming from an alleyway just in front of them. She looked at Sanji, who had snapped out of his daze and looked equally as serious as she did. The two hurried forwards and looked into the alleyway, just in time to see a giant muscular man turning the corner out of sight. A woman was on the ground. Sanji and Hancock ran over to her, the blonde helping her up. "Are you OK? What happened?"

"I.. I was just taking a shortcut through this alley when that man suddenly appeared with a knife. He took my purse and then shoved me to the ground."

Sanji growled and turned in the direction the man had headed. "Sanji!" Hancock shouted, knowing instantly what he wanted to do.

"Sorry…" Sanji muttered. "But I've got to teach some table manners to the jerk who goes around hurting ladies. Go to the restaurant, I'll meet you there!"

Before Hancock could say anything else, Sanji sprinted after the giant man with the weird laugh. The girl looked worriedly at Hancock. "Wait, is he going after the guy who mugged me? That's way too dangerous, we need to stop him!"

Hancock sighed. "There's no stopping him when he's like this. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's one of the toughest guys I know. The best thing we can do is wait for him here…"

######

"Yay food!" Luffy shouted, kicking the Thousand Sunny door open as it parked next to the restaurant Nami and the others were in. He was out of the car before any of the others had even removed their seat belts. Without waiting for the others Luffy opened the door of the building and went in, it not taking him long to locate Nami and Robin in far corner of the room. He could also see Law and Sabo with their backs to him, but there was one other guy sitting down, the view of him partially obstructed, that he couldn't make out. Luffy however didn't think too much of this, just glad to see his friends.

"Hey guys!" he shouted as he hurried towards their table, ignoring the looks the other diners were giving him. Nami beamed at him.

"Luffy! I can't believe you came all this way for us. Although… where are the others?"

"Dunno, I guess they're still in Sunny. Hey Robin, Traffie! And Sabo, I didn't know you'd be here too! And…"

Luffy trailed off, him at last making eye contact with Monkey D Dragon, who was just staring spellbound back at his son for the first time in seventeen years, unable to find any words. Sabo eyed Dragon carefully, wondering what was going to happen next. Suddenly, Luffy grinned and held his hand out to Dragon. "I'm Luffy! What's your name?"

"I… I know. I've wanted to meet you for so long, Luffy, I-"

Sabo kicked Dragon hard in the back of his leg under the table. Dragon sighed. "I… Sabo's told me a lot about you. I'm Dragon."

"Yeah, Sabo's my big brother!"

With that, Luffy sat between Nami and Law, the former handing him the restaurant menu. They had put off ordering their main courses until everyone was here. Sabo breathed a sigh of relief, glad that no one seemed to suspect anything, however he was so focussed on Dragon and Luffy that he didn't noticed someone eyeing him curiously.

Robin frowned. She had been watching Sabo's face during that entire exchange, and he had been sweating bullets. Ace was right, there was definitely something suspicious about him. Plus, what was this Mr Dragon? He was currently staring down at the table, looking seriously troubled. She was broken out of her thoughts by the restaurant door opening, Zoro and the rest of the guys entering. Their table was nearly full though, so after saying hello, the five sat down on the adjacent table.

After everyone had been sitting down for a while, Nami looked down at her phone. "I wonder where Sanji and Hancock are. Do you think they got lost searching for this place? I've tried texting Sanji again, but he hasn't replied."

"That's kind of worrying," Usopp said. "Maybe someone should go look for them."

"I'll go," Law offered. "Me and Straw Hat-ya will probably be able to cover a lot of ground quickly."

Luffy, who was tucking into an appetiser, stopped mid bite. "But food…."

"Luffy!" Nami yelled.

Said boy sighed, him and Law getting up and heading out of the restaurant.

######

Luffy's stomach growled loudly. "I'm soooo hungry!"

Law scowled at him. "You ate two full plates of starters at the restaurant. How is it possible to still be hungry?"

Luffy cupped both his hands around his mouth. "SANJI! HANCOCK! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Law rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's not going to work…"

"Man, I'm so hungry. Hey Traffie, do you think we could find somewhere to get some food real quickly?"

A vein popped on Law's forehead. "We'll eat when we get back to the restaurant. Can we just focus on finding-"

"ZE HA HA HA"

Law looked around, startled by the odd sounding laugh. "What was that? Anyway, Straw Hat-ya…"

Law trailed off, seeing Luffy's expression shift. He had tensed up completely and clenched his fists. Luffy gritted his teeth, he had definitely heard that laugh before….

Before Law could say anything else, Luffy bolted in the direction of the voice, running full speed. Law blinked, before running off after Luffy, not understanding what was going on at all.

######

Sanji skidded to a halt. There was no doubt about it, he'd completely lost the man he was chasing after. "The hell did that guy run off to?" He grumbled, kicking a nearby stone into the wall of the alleyway.

"TEACH!"

Sanji blinked at the sound of the familiar voice shouting. "Luffy?"

The blonde followed the source of the voice, stepping out of the alleyway just in time to see Luffy sprint past, Sanji taken aback by the look on pure rage on Luffy's face as he ran past. Luffy, noticing Sanji, was running so fast that he ran a good way down the road before he finally skidded to a halt. He turned around. "Sanji! You're here! Just wait there, I need to go find someone!"

Before Sanji could respond, Luffy had continued running, disappearing from sight when he turned left into an alleyway further down the road. Just then, a panting Law appeared, him stopping when he reached Sanji. "There you are, me and Straw Hat-ya were looking for you…"

"You are? So where's Luffy going now?"

Law shrugged. "I don't know. We heard this weird sound, like someone laughing, and then he suddenly ran off looking really pissed off."

"A weird laugh? Then that must be… We have to go after Luffy, he's going after the guy I was looking for!"

"What do you mean guy you were looking for?"

Sanji began running after Luffy. "Just go back to the restaurant and make sure Hancock's there! Leave this to me and Luffy!"

#######

Nami looked expectantly at Law as he re-entered the restaurant alone. When he met her gaze, he knew he was going to have to offer an explanation, but honestly he was as confused as they were probably. He was about to speak when he noticed Hancock had joined the group. "Ah Boa-ya. You're here now. That's good, Sanji will be happy."

"So where is he? And Luffy?" Nami demanded. Law shrugged.

"They're both chasing after this guy, but I don't know who he is or why they're so angry with him."

Nami glared at him. "And you just came back here instead of helping them?"

"I came back to make sure Boa-ya made it here. Now that I know she's safe, I should probably go look for them. Roronoa, you wanna come with me?"

Zoro yawned. "Do I have to? I'm sure Luffy can handle it."

"Luffy and Sanji, right?" Usopp asked. Zoro shook his head.

"Nope."

Hancock pointed her finger accusingly at Zoro, doing her famous 'looking down on you' pose. "How dare you disrespect my beloved like that!"

A vein popped on Nami's forehead. "We're getting away from the point here! Zoro, go with Tra-guy and make sure Luffy and Sanji are OK!"

Zoro sighed, lazily standing up. "Fine…"

######

Luffy increased his pace, hearing the same laugh coming from just up ahead. "TEACH!"

The dark haired teen quickly turned right into an alleyway, closing in on the source of the voice. "There you are!"

Standing there were two men, both with their back to Luffy, one new, but one he definitely recognised. "TEACH!" Luffy shouted.

Both Teach and his companion turned around, the former looking surprised to see Luffy there. "You're… Ace's brother?"

The other man, giant with long purple hair and a mask over his head, turned to Teach and grinned. "This kid is Ace's brother. WE HA HA HA HA!"

"Oi, who are you!" Luffy shouted. "Are you friends with Teach? If you are, I'll kick your ass too!"

"WE HA HA HA HA HA! I'm the CHAMPION, JESUS BURGESS! This kid's pretty funny boss…"

Teach grinned at Luffy. "Ze ha ha… You know Straw Hat, you're at a disadvantage here. There are two of us and only one of you…"

"Hey Luffy!"

Luffy turned around just in time to see Sanji enter the alleyway, stopping when he reached Luffy's side. He glared at Jesus Burgess, instantly recognising him as the one who had stolen from the girl earlier. "Ha… I finally caught up to you, you shitty jerk…"

Burgess laughed. "We ha ha! Do I know you brat?"

"No, but it doesn't matter who I am. All I want is to beat some manners into that ugly mug of yours..."

Burgess chuckled loudly. "WE HA HA HA! Well well, looks like we've got even numbers now! Whaddya say Boss, you wanna have some fun with these brats?"

Marshall D Teach grinned and stared straight at Luffy. "Sure. I owe this kid payback for what happened before anyway."

***get it? Because it's Sabo... lol**

**So Teach and Burgess vs Luffy and Sanji. Freaking awesome. But why is Blackbeard in Baltigo anyway? **

**As always, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. **


	20. A Menacing Alliance

**Hey guys. Now if you've read my profile, you'll know my laptop is broken currently which is why I said I couldn't make new chapters. Yet here is a new chapter. **

**Basically, I've borrowed an iPad off a friend to use in the meantime while I'm waiting for my laptop to be fixed. However even still this chapter was a lot of work. It took me three hours straight of work on a day off yesterday to just copy what I'd handwritten onto here because I just find typing on an iPad kind of weird, probably because I'm not used to it. Anyway, why am I telling you this? Basically, this was a lot of work an I'm not too crazy about the idea of doing it again, so this may be the last chapter for a while. Sorry about that, but that's just how it is I guess.**

**Oh yeah, and also one more quick thing. I was reading through the reviews for this story because I am very sad, and I noticed that 'law' has reviewed nearly every chapter since like chapter 5 and has always left really nice and pretty substantial reviews. I just want to say, thanks a lot man. I really liked reading every single one of your reviews and yes, I will write you a long Law x Robin fanfic when I finish this one. **

Law glanced back at Zoro, the green haired teenager trailing slightly behind him as they ran through the streets of Baltigo. "It was around here where I lost Straw Hat-ya. It's been nearly half an hour now though..."

Zoro nodded. "I see. Maybe we should split up and search from here to cover more ground."

Law just stared at Zoro like he was an idiot, surprising the green haired teenager. "What?"

Law sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If we do that you won't be able to find your way back to the restaurant without getting lost. Then we'll have three people to look for..."

Zoro glared at him, "Oi, I'm not a little kid ya know!"

Law rolled his eyes. "The best course of action is for us to stick together and search. Let's go, Roronoa."

Zoro, still a little peeved by Law's insinuation that he was bound to get lost, nodded, and the two began running again.

Law frowned. Ever since they'd set off from the restaurant, he'd had a bad feeling gnawing at the back of his mind. What had happened between Robin and him... Was it really alright that Zoro knew nothing about it? No lines had been crossed, that was true. But still... Did Zoro really deserve for his own girlfriend to be keeping secrets from him?

Suddenly Law skidded to a halt, irritating Zoro who kept running. "We'll rest later!" Zoro shouted. "Luffy and Eyebrow can't have gotten too far!"

"Wait Roronoa... There's something we need to talk about..."

"It can wait, stop wasting-"

"It's about Robin."

Zoro instantly stopped running. He turned around, now feeling a little unnerved by the look on Law's face. "What's wrong? Is she in danger?"

"Nothing like that. Roronoa, she and I, we..."

######

Sanji gritted his teeth as he and Luffy stared down Teach and Burgess, wondering who was going to make the first move. He was about to warn Luffy to be careful when the enraged teenager suddenly charged forwards without warning, heading straight for a grinning Teach. Sanji's eyes widened. "Wait, Luffy!"

Luffy swung his fist at Teach, who caught it. Luffy then tried a kick, his foot slamming against Teach's side. Teach yelped in pain, releasing Luffy's hand, allowing the teenager to deliver a devestating punch to Teach's gut. Burgess growled and made for Luffy, but Sanji stood between them. The chef eyed the handbag in Burgess' clutch.

"You could save yourself a lot of pain by handing that over to me right now."

Burgess grinned. "We ha ha! Who do you think you are talking to me, the FIGHTING CHAMPION, like that?"

Sanji stared evenly at Burgess, unintimidated. "Fighting champion huh? That's too bad, because I'm..."

Sanji lunged forwards, swinging his right leg up towards Burgess' face. The fighting champion blocked it with his elbow, the two locked in combat for a bit before separating. Sanji grinned, taking the opportunity to use his other leg to swat at Burgess' right hand, the one holding the bag. Burgess yelped, instantly releasing the bag, however whilst he was off balance, Sanji delivered a sharp kick to Burgess' stomach, causing him to be sent flying backwards. Sanji took this opportunity to scoop up the handbag and looked at the shocked Burgess. "The champion of the ladies."

Meanwhile, Teach finally picked himself up from the ground and looked over at Burgess. "Damn, these brats are tough... Ze ha ha, looks like we'll have to go all out."

Burgess nodded, picking himself up. "Guess so boss..."

######

Sabo glanced at his watch. "It's been a while since Law and Zoro left. I'm beginning to get really worried. Maybe I should head out too."

Nami looked surprised. "You?"

Sabo blinked. "Why not? You guys had no problem with Law and Zoro going."

"But those two are... You know..."

"Monsters?" Usopp offered. Nami nodded.

"Exactly. Let's just wait here for them to get back."

Sabo smirked slightly and turned around, facing the restaurant's exit. "I'll be back soon, don't worry. I'm just gonna go look around a bit..."

######

Luffy grunted in pain, him barely able to block Teach's punch. "Ze ha ha... Is this all you can manage... Straw Hat?"

"Shut up! I won't forgive you for betraying Ace! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Teach suddenly swung his leg up, kicking Luffy hard in the gut. "Oh trust me, Ace is definitely going to get what's coming to him... He stopped Crocodile once before and Joker's anxious for the same to not happen to him..."

Sanji's eyes widened at the sound of that name. "Joker? You're working with Doflamingo!"

Teach blinked in surprise before grinning. "So you brats even know the identity of Joker huh? Maybe it is best we kill you both here and now ze ha ha..."

"Oi..." Burgess began, charging at Sanji. "Don't think I'm done yet!"

Sanji turned around, barely blocking Burgess' punch with his leg. Teach meanwhile strolled over to Luffy. The dark haired teenager growled and swung at Teach who easily avoided it before knocking Luffy back down onto the ground. He pinned Luffy down by the throat and began adding pressure. "Ze ha ha... This is the end Straw Hat..."

"Luffy!" Sanji cried, about to leap to his friend's aid. He swung his leg towards Teach but Burgess blocked it with both his elbows. He grinned at Sanji.

"We ha ha... Don't interfere."

Sanji watched with wide eyes as Luffy gasped under Teach's grip. Was Luffy going to die?

######

"Nothing like that. Roronoa, she and I, we-"

Before Law could finish his sentence, the air was filled with the sound of sirens blazing, all seemingly headed in Law and Zoro's direction. The two teenagers looked around in confusion as several police cars whizzed past them, one halting besides them. The door swung open, revealing a familiar face sitting in the back seat. "You two, get in!" Ace shouted.

"Ace? What are you doing here in Baltigo?" Zoro asked.

"Get in, I'll explain on the way! The streets aren't safe tonight, especially around here..."

Zoro and Law exchanged a confused look but complied, joining Ace in the back of the vehicle. In the front were Marco, who was driving, and Thatch. "So what's going on?" Zoro immediately asked.

Marco eyed Law in the mirror. "This actually concerns you. We have reason to believe that a certain meeting is ocurring tonight..."

Law blinked. "A meeting?"

"That's right. Between Teach and the one they call Joker."

Law's eyes widened. "Joker's here!?"

"Joker is Doflamingo," Zoro began. "And Teach is... That police officer from the summer! They're working together?!"

Ace gritted his teeth. "Yep. We've been following both bastards for months now. Two separate trails that led to the same point. They are partners. Once we found out they'd be meeting here, we contacted the Baltigo Police Force and made our way over here."

"But why here?" Law asked. "Is Joker's base here?"

Ace shook his head. "We're not firm on the details, but we think that Doflamingo is looking for someone in this city. It seems he's so desperate to find them that he's requested Teach's help."

"Who's he looking for?" Zoro asked.

"We don't know for sure," Marco replied. "But we intercepted a communication where Doflamingo referred to a 'her', so we're pretty sure it's a woman."

"Wait a second..." Zoro began. "What about Luffy? He's here too, with Love Cook. We were looking for those two, that's what we were doing before you guys showed up."

Ace's eyes widened. "Luffy!? He's here too!?"

Zoro nodded. "Yeah, we all came to wish Robin, Nami and Law good luck in their interviews. Then some stuff happened, and Luffy and Love Cook went off on their own looking for some people.

Thatch turned to Ace. "You don't think Luffy..."

Ace clenched his fists. "Went after Teach? I'm almost certain. Let me out of the car. There's no way in hell I'm letting that rat even lay a finger on my little brother."

Marco complied, stopping the car, Ace swinging the door open as soon as it had stopped. He immmediately bolted into a nearby alleyway. Thatch turned to Marco. "I'll go too. Take these two somewhere safe."

Marco nodded. "Be careful man."

With that, Thatch opened the door and followed after Ace. Marco glanced back ar Law and Zoro. "I guess we'll have to leave this to them..."

######

Teach grinned as he looked down at the struggling boy under his grip. "This is the end Straw Hat!"

"Damn it... Move out the way shithead!" Sanji shouted, swinging another kick at Burgess, who held firm. Sanji looked desperately at Luffy, unable to do anything to save his friend.

Just then a bullet whizzed through the air, flying millimetres wide of Teach's head. Said man jerked back, releasing Luffy.

"Get your hands off him!" Ace yelled, entering the alleyway. Sanji took advantage of the confusion to kick Burgess hard and knock him sideways. The blonde chef went to the gasping Luffy's side and helped him up.

Ace sprinted forwards and put himself between the two teenagers and Teach and Burgess. He glanced back at Luffy and Sanji. "You two... Run as soon as Luffy's ready. Find a police car and say you're my brother and they'll take you in. There should be a lot of them around."

Teach smirked and, taking advantage of the fact Ace was distracted, began running away from the police officer, Burgess following his boss. Before Luffy or Sanji could say anything, Ace followed after them. "I'm glad you're safe little bro!" He shouted as he ran away from the two.

######

Ace smirked, two familiar figures coming into view. "Nowhere to run now, eh Teach?"

Teach and Burgess stopped running, the two facing Ace. Teach laughed. "Ze ha ha... You seem to think we're the one's cornered, but... There's two of us and one of you."

"Doesn't matter to me, I'll kick both of your asses."

"Ze ha ha... Come on Ace. Two-on-One against a couple of guys like us is too much for even a guy like you."

"Who said it's Two-on-One though?"

Ace's eyes widened at the sound of the familiar voice. He turned around to see Sabo stroll up to his side. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for Luffy, althought it looks like my other brother may need my help too."

Ace shook his head. "Forget it. These guys are the real deal."

Sabo chuckled. "Hey now, since when did you talk down to me? Don't forget our strength was equal when we were kids. And sure, you may have become some big shot police officer, but don't think I've just been slacking off."

Teach gritted his teeth. He didn't know who Sabo was, but if he was a friend of Ace's he could be bad news for him. The situation was no longer in his favour. "Let's go!" He shouted at Burgess. "We don't have time for this!"

With that Teach bolted in the direction away from Ace and Sabo. Ace lunged forwards to chase after Teach but Burgess stood in his way. However before he could, Sabo swung at him, sending Burgess staggering backwards and clearing the path for Ace to pursue Teach. Ace blinked, both shocked and impressed by Sabo's strength.

"Go Ace!" Sabo shouted, his eyes fixed on Burgess. "Leave this guy to me..."

Ace smirked, wordlessly agreeing with Sabo and sprinting after the fleeing Teach.

######

Nami frowned. She had had this weird feeling in the back of her mind for a while now, but she hadn't been able to work out what it was exactly. Either way, she was beginning to feel positive it was something to do with this 'Mr Dragon'. But what was it?

"Um excuse me Mr Dragon... But have we met before?"

Dragon looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean before today? It's just, there's something about you which seems familiar..." Nami trailed off, her eyes widening.

######

_It wasn't. Sitting on a bench about a hundred metres away were two people, one familiar and one not._

_The familiar one was Sabo, sitting on the right with his back to her. Next to him was a taller man with long wild hair, his head tilted to the side, allowing Nami to make out his facial features. He had a strikingly scary looking face, with a red tattoo running down the left side of his face._

_Nami gulped and quickly got herself out of sight, hiding behind a tree. For some reason, she felt terrified of the man with Sabo. So this is who he was meeting that he couldn't tell Luffy about._

_"-And?" The man gruffly demanded._

_Sabo sighed, pausing for a moment before answering. "And nothing. We just had dinner before going to see a movie."_

_The man frowned, causing a shiver to run up Nami's spine. "You didn't tell him about me?"_

_"Look, this isn't the kind of thing you can say easily. I only just met Luffy a few days ago after so long! Just give me time!"_

_The man stood up. "Fine. But you should know I'm **very** impatient to see Luffy..."_

_Nami's eyes widened. Just what was going on? Who was this man? What did he want with Luffy? Was he dangerous? Why was Sabo helping him? The orange haired girl staggered backwards slightly, overwhelmed with worry._

######

Nami gasped. "It was you!"

Dragon and the others at the table blinked in confusion. "Nami?" Chopper asked.

Nami ignored him and continued to stare in shock at Dragon. "You're the one I saw with Sabo at the park that night! That's why you look so familiar!"

Before Dragon could respond, Nami's expression changed from surprised to angry, her now glaring at Dragon. "What do you want with Luffy? I swear if you do anything to hurt him, I'll-"

"Woah, easy there..." Usopp interrupted, whilst a confused Robin laid a hand on the furious Nami's back in an attempt to calm her down. "What's going on?"

Nami pointed an accusing finger and the still surprisingly calm Dragon. "This guy was the one I saw with Sabo on that night, you know, when no one believed me. He wants something with Luffy and it was nothing good from the sound of it..."

Robin looked over at Dragon. She had certainly had her suspicions about this man, and it looked like they were being proven correct. "Is this true?"

Dragon continued to look evenly at Nami. He could deny her accusations, but that would only work against him when the time did come to tell the truth to Luffy. "Hmm... Well I suppose the cat is our of the bag. What Nami says is true. I have wanted go meet Luffy for a long time, and it's also true that I have been using Sabo as a means of briging the two of us together. However... I have no ill intentions towards Luffy."

Nami glared heatedly at Dragon. "Eh? And how do we know that?" She demanded.

"Simple. Because Luffy is my son."

######

"Ugh..."

Sabo dug his heel into Burgess' chest, the 'fighting champion' sprawled on the ground in defeat. He had been no match for Sabo. "Maybe I should go after Ace now. He may still need my help."

"We ha ha..." Burgess laughed weakly. "It's already too late..."

Sabo frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

"The boss is luring 'Fire Fist' into a trap. The rest of our gang plus Joker and his men are here with us in Baltigo. If Ace continues to chase after the boss, the boss'll lead him straight to our base. And there'll be no escape then."

Sabo roughly picked up Burgess by the collar and shoved him against the alleyway wall. "Where's your base?! Tell me now!"

"We ha ha..." Burgess gasped, clearly in extreme pain. "I'll never tell... It's over. Fire Fist Ace is going to die tonight and who knows, maybe we'll go after that little brother of his too-"

That was as far as he got before Sabo shoved his fist into Burgess' gut with extreme force, the fighting champion coughing up blood before falling to the ground. Sabo glared furiously at Burgess' unconscious body.

"Don't you dare **ever** threaten my brothers."

**I just want to point out at this point that Turtle412 called the Blackbeard-Joker alliance two years ago lol. Fair play to you man, Teach wasn't even a bad guy at that point. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading as usual and please do bear with me whilst I wait for my laptop to be fixed. Later guys!**


	21. Robin's Interview

Robin stared straight ahead at the blank wall in front of her, feeling unable to concentrate on what was coming, what should have been one of the most important moments of her life. Her Baltigo University interview. It was incredible, she had spent months preparing for this yet now… she honestly didn't care about how it went.

All Robin could think about was the events of last night. She sighed, running her hand through her hair. What was going to happen now? Would things ever be the same again?

Just then the door next to Robin opened and out came a shaken looking teenager. Robin inwardly scoffed. What was he so upset about? So what if he'd had a bad interview, it wasn't the end of the world. It was nothing compared to what had happened to her and the rest of her friends last night….

Robin shook her head, a little shocked by how cynical that last thought had been. Since when was she so… spiteful?

"Nico Robin." A male voice boomed from inside the room. Robin got up from the small chair stationed outside the Professor's office and entered the room. It was small with a desk at the back overlooking the Baltigo University courtyard and a round table in the middle of the room with two bookshelves on either side of the room.

The professor looked at Robin, his expression fairly neutral. Not particularly unnerving, but not especially friendly either. "Hello there, I'm Professor Smith," He greeted, holding his hand out to Robin.

"Robin," said girl replied, taking his hand and shaking it. She sat down opposite the professor on the other side of his desk, trying desperately to even just temporarily focus on the task on hand, but unable to do so.

"So, let's begin shall we? To start off, I was wondering whether you could tell me what inspired you to choose Baltigo in particular to apply to?"

######

"_Enough talking, let's go!" Luffy shouted. He and Sanji had just been dropped off by a police vehicle at the restaurant, where they'd met up with Law and Zoro. Instead of entering the restaurant, where a startling revelation had just been made, the four were outside arguing about whether to pursue Doflamingo or not._

"_Luffy, you were nearly killed back there! Why don't we leave this to the police?" Sanji said desperately. _

"_No way," Law sharply said. "You three are free to do whatever you want but I'm going after Doflamingo."_

"_Well if you're going I'm going too!" Luffy said stubbornly. "We're friends and friends stick together!"_

_Zoro nodded. "I'm with Luffy, this is our fight too."_

_Sanji sighed, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to convince the other three to leave this alone. "Fine, but we should stick together, the four of us."_

######

"I see," Professor Smith said, nodding to himself as he scribbled down a quick sentence on a piece of paper by his side. "That's a good answer. You mentioned in your essay a particular fondness for Ancient History and Archaeology. Where did that originate from?"

######

"_Ace! Stop!" Thatch shouted, his colleague running through the empty streets of Baltigo at full pelt. _

"_Why should I?" Ace shouted back. "Teach is right here Thatch, right here! We can finally get him!"_

"_It's too dangerous! There's only two of us and we don't know this area at all, nor do we know how many men Teach has!"_

"_Then wait behind here and call for back up but __**I'm**__ going on ahead. I won't let Teach escape. I need to pay him back for nearly killing my brother."_

"_You can't go alone!"_

_Thatch continued running after Ace, knowing that stopping his fellow Police officer would be impossible currently. He was just too angry._

######

"That's very interesting. So you more or less inherited that interest from your mother?"

Robin nodded. Professor Smith smiled slightly, mistaking Robin's hesitance for mere shyness. "So tell me what you know about the Shandian civilisation."

######

"_You seriously think it's Monet?" Sanji asked. Law nodded._

"_Doflamingo is after a girl. I'm not 100% sure, but there's a definite chance it's her, wouldn't you agree?" _

"_It would make sense," Sanji agreed. "She probably knows a lot about Caesar's research. If Doflamingo wants that information with Clown in jail, Monet would be Doflamingo's next best option."_

_Law gritted his teeth. "I won't let him touch her."_

_Luffy nodded. "Don't worry Traffy, I'll kick Mingo's ass before that happens!"_

_Law smiled slightly, genuinely grateful. "Thanks Straw Hat-ya."_

"_We need to find him first," Zoro said sharply. "I mean, he could be anywhere in this city, where do we begin?"_

_######_

_After following Teach for a while, Ace and Thatch had lost the former police officer in an industrial area. The two police officers hadn't given up though, searching the area carefully and finally finding coming to a lone factory. Ace walked past the storage containers surrounding the building, listening carefully for any sound of noise coming from inside. _

"_You really think he's here?" Thatch asked._

"_Yeah…. Not sure why, but I can just feel it. He's here alright."_

"_Alright then, I'll call for backup, let's watch the building from a safe distance. If Teach is really there, we can corner him right here and now."_

_Ace continued walking towards the building. "You can do what you want, I'm going in."_

"_Are you kidding? Ace, this isn't safe! I know you're angry and you have every right to be, but let's be smart here!"_

"_I said you can do what you want. But you can't stop me from doing this."_

_Thatch sighed before following after Ace. _

######

"Sorry, what was that?"

Robin snapped out of her daze and looked up from the table at the confused looking Professor. "I'm sorry?"

"Uh… you said something about a Factory and a Teacher I think?"

Robin shook her head. "S-Sorry, my mistake. I meant to say…"

######

"_Hey Law I just remembered, before the police found us earlier, you were about to say something about Robin. What was it?"_

_Law gulped slightly at Zoro's question, which didn't go unnoticed by Sanji. "Now's not the time for that, we need to focus on finding Joker. I'll tell you later."_

_Zoro nodded, satisfied, but Sanji examined Law's face carefully. He could tell there was something up. Luffy groaned loudly._

"_Where the hell is Mingo?"_

"_Luffy has a point, we have no idea where we're going, this is pointless," Sanji said, more to Law than anyone else. Law gritted his teeth. _

"_I don't care, if Monet is in this city somewhere, I'm not going to stop looking until I find her."_

"_I understand the way you feel, but-"_

"_There is no but! I said you three are free to do whatever you want, but I'm not stopping."_

_Sanji stood in front of Law, stopping the dark haired teen in his tracks. "Law, I get how you feel. If Hancock, or Robin or any of my friends was in this position, I wouldn't give up until I found them either. But we have to be smart about this for Monet's sake. Let's just stop for a second and think about this. Where would Monet likely be?" _

_Law was about to walk past Sanji when Zoro put a hand on his shoulder. "He's right. I've been there before, and running around aimlessly doesn't do anything."_

_Law sighed, seeing reason at last. "Alright… but how are we supposed to figure out where she is?"_

_Sanji thought for a second. "Well Monet was the adopted daughter of that Caesar Clown and wasn't she a scientist herself too?"_

_Law nodded. "Yeah that's right, Caesar taught her a lot of stuff so that she could help him out."_

"_So if she's in Baltigo now, she might have found a job here in which she could use those skills."_

_Law gasped. "The University!"_

"_So you think Monet works somewhere in the University?" Zoro asked. _

"_It would make sense," Sanji said. "I mean, I don't think it would be difficult for Monet to get a job as some sort of lab assistant in the University."_

"_Yosh, let's go to the University tomorrow then!" Luffy shouted. Sanji rolled his eyes._

"_We can't stay here, we have school tomorrow and for the rest of the week. We're going to have to set off back home first thing tomorrow. Law on the other hand…"_

_Law nodded. "Yeah, leave it to me.." _

"_Nami and Robin can help too. So can Hancock actually, although I don't think she knows that much about this whole thing," Zoro said._

"_That would be great if they could help, yeah," Law agreed. "Alright then, maybe we should go back to the restaurant. The others are probably worried about us…" _

######

"_Wh… What did you just say…?" _

_Dragon turned to Nami, his calm expression a huge contrast to the collective shocked expressions held by the rest of the table. "Monkey D Luffy is my son. My full name is Monkey D Dragon and I am Luffy's father." _

"_B… Bullshit!" Nami shouted, standing up, her rage clearly visible. _

"_It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not is of little consequence. Although if you did want proof, then you'd just have to ask my father. Luffy still is under the care of Garp, isn't he?" _

"_Garp is your father… You're Luffy's dad…." Chopper said in an almost zombie-like way. _

_Nami glared at Dragon. "Luffy's dad walked out on him when he was too young to even remember. I don't care whether you are him or not, you have no right to even try and see Luffy now!"_

_Dragon just looked blankly back at Nami, seemingly completely unfazed by her anger. "I would say that's for Luffy to decide, wouldn't you agree?" _

######

"Your knowledge on the Shandians is very impressive. I see you've read up well on the subject. Now what do you know about Poneglyphs Robin?"

######

_Ace and Thatch entered the factory together, the moonlight through the windows the only source of light within the seemingly empty building._

"_It seems empty," Thatch muttered to himself while Ace went ahead. _

"_It's not," Ace said, his back to his colleague. _

"_Ze ha ha ha…." _

_Thatch froze at the sound of the familiar laugh. "Teach!"_

_Both Ace and Thatch frantically looked around the nearly pitch black room, unable to pinpoint exactly where Teach's voice was coming from. Suddenly a gunshot was fired and Thatch yelped in pain, falling to the ground. _

"_I got him," an unfamiliar voice said loudly. Ace ran to Thatch's side, noting that the gunshot came from above, meaning the warehouse must have a second floor. _

"_Nice shot, Van Augur," Teach's voice praised. _

_Ace dropped down next to Thatch. "Thatch, are you OK? Shit, I can't see properly…" _

"_We… Need to get… Get out…" Thatch mumbled. _

_Ace slung Thatch's arm around his neck and lifted his fellow police officer up, hurrying towards the door that was thankfully close by to them. He swung it open but froze at the sight which greeted him. _

_There were two men standing there with guns pointed directly at them. One of the men was tall with a cigar in his mouth and the other had pale white skin, a black hat and two big earrings._

"_Ze ha ha… Looks like my plan worked."_

_Ace turned around just in time to see Teach open the warehouse door, a man with long brown hair and some somewhat peculiar glasses next to him._

_Ace snarled at Teach. "What do you want? To kill me?"_

_Teach shook his head, clearly amused by the situation. "Of course not Ace, why would I want something like that? No, I'm here to offer you an exciting new opportunity. Join my gang. I could use a reliable guy like you as my right hand man. Besides… it's not exactly like you're in a position to refuse right now, is it?" _

"_I told you, I'd rather die than join you!"_

"_Ze ha ha what a brave thing to say. Shiliew, why don't you show Ace the reality of this situation?"_

_The man with a cigar in his mouth shot Thatch straight through the chest._

######

"Well then, I think that's all we have time for. It was a pleasure meeting you Robin."

Professor Smith smiled a friendly smile, really signalling that the business of the interview was truly over and that both him and Robin could now relax. Not that Robin could have relaxed if she'd tried of course. Robin smiled gingerly back and the two shook hands before Robin left the room, a nervous looking teenager sitting on the chair outside Professor Smith's office. He looked up at Robin, maybe trying to get some sort of clue as to what awaited him in the room, but Robin's hollow expression was probably misleading. It had nothing to do with the interview after all.

Robin made her way back to the cafeteria, where Nami was eating lunch, although she didn't look herself either. Robin quickly got her lunch before wordlessly joining her best friend. They sat in silence for a long while before Robin finally spoke.

"Luffy and the others aren't back from the hospital yet?"

######

_Sanji glanced down at his phone screen and compared the name on the map to the one on the side of the street. "We're nearly there I think, the restaurant should be just up ahead."_

_Zoro yawned. "Jeez what a night. I need to get to bed…" _

_Sanji frowned. "Bed… Hey, where are we gonna sleep tonight? We never figured that out, did we?"_

_Luffy laughed. "Ah, don't worry about it! I'm sure everything's gonna work out somehow!"_

_Law rolled his eyes. "I wish I had Straw Hat-ya's optimism…"_

"_By the way Law, if we're going back now, what was it you wanted to tell me before?" Zoro asked._

_Law froze at that, surprising the other three boys. "I think you and I should talk in private Roronoa. You two go on ahead."_

_Sanji and Luffy exchanged a confused glance before continuing on their way. Luffy looked back at Law and Zoro. "What's that all about?"_

_Sanji looked grimly at the other two teenagers. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this…"_

_After a couple of minutes of walking Luffy and Sanji finally reached the restaurant. They were about to go inside when a police car turned the corner onto the street and skidded to a halt next to them. The driver kicked the door open, revealing a panicked looking Marco. _

"_Luffy! You guys! Get in! NOW!"_

"_Wait, what happened? Did you catch Teach?" Sanji asked._

"_Just get in NOW! We have to go to the hospital!"_

######

"_ACE!" _

_Sabo looked up just in time to see Luffy enter the hospital waiting room. _

"_Wh… What happened?"_

_Sabo stood up and went to Luffy's side. "Ace and another police officer were surrounded by that Teach and his men. Just when they were about to… to shoot Ace, the police backup the other officer had had called for arrived. Teach panicked and shot Ace before him and his men escaped. The other one was already dead but Ace..."_

"_He's not dead… right?"_

_Luffy's face was tilted towards the ground, tears streaming down his face. Sabo shook his head. "No, he's alive, but he's in critical condition. He's having emergency surgery now."_

"_He'll survive though, right?"_

_Sabo pulled his younger brother into a hug, him unable to stop his own tears from freely flowing. _

######

"So what now?"

Nobody could really answer Usopp's question. Him and the rest of the group minus the ones having interviews were in the hospital waiting room, doing exactly what the room was intended for. Waiting. Waiting for some news regarding Ace.

Sanji slammed his foot against the wall. "Shit… If Luffy and I had just gone with Ace…"

Chopper looked sympathetically at the blonde. "Sanji…"

"Hey Usopp, did Zoro text you back?" Franky asked.

No one had seen Zoro since he and Law had separated from Luffy and Sanji last night. After those two had reached the hospital, Sanji had called Nami to tell her what had happened to Ace and asked her to pass on the message to the others. He had then tried and failed to contact both Zoro and Law while Nami and the others had immediately rushed over to the hospital, the whole Dragon thing taking a back seat in their minds. After remaining there for a couple of hours, Sabo suggested that Nami, Robin and Hancock go back to the University to get some rest. It was nearly 3a.m. at this point and they would have to be up early for interviews the next morning. Everyone else, Sabo included, had stayed in the hospital waiting room overnight.

"I figured something was up," Sanji said, remembering the bad feeling he had last night about Law.

Usopp stood up. "I think I'm gonna go look for him. You wanna come with me Chopper?"

Chopper nodded and the two separated from the group. "Hey Usopp… This… stuff will all be over soon right?"

Usopp waited for a moment before staring grimly ahead. "I don't think so. I think this is just the beginning."


	22. Luffy and Usopp

**Sorry that progress on this is really slow. It is what it is, I just don't have the time I used to to work on this. I really appreciate all the people who have stuck by this though, and I will try and do the best I can for you.**

"Damn!" Zoro grunted, smashing his fist down onto the arm rest of the park bench he was sitting on. A single snowflake fell from the sky and landed on the green-haired teenager's nose.

_Law looked seriously at Zoro. "Robin and I… We had a moment where we…."_

Zoro stood up and began walking, figuring he needed to get inside now before he got caught in a blizzard.

"… _It wasn't Robin's fault. I initiated it and she stopped me."_

How could have not have seen it this whole time? Robin had been spending a lot of time with Law, alone with Law, how the hell couldn't he have seen it? He had trusted Robin, sure, and Law was his friend, but how could he have been so stupid?

_Zoro grabbed Law by the collar and roughly shoved him against the wall. Law looked calmly back at Zoro. "I'm not gonna stop you. If you want to hit me, go ahead."_

Why didn't she tell him?

Zoro pulled his jacket tighter around him, not really dressed for snow. After stumbling through the park, Zoro ended up walking for a while before finally finding a pretty deserted looking coffee shop, the person behind the counter the only one there. He sat down at an empty table and sighed.

What was he going to do?

Just then Zoro felt his phone vibrating. It was Robin, for what must have been the 50th time that day. He put his phone back down and ignored it, just like he did the other 49 times.

######

Law lightly touched his broken nose and winced in pain. Although that slight discomfort was nothing compared to the bad feeling he had in his gut.

He had thought coming clean to Zoro was the right thing to do and it would bring him some sort of relief. But now… Even though Zoro was the one who had punched him, Law could see that the green haired teenager was the one who was hurt more. Even though nothing had actually happened between him and Robin, it would seem the fact that Robin hadn't told Zoro had hurt him a lot and was making Zoro now question what feelings Robin had for both Zoro himself, but also for Law.

He entered the University cafeteria and looked around the room for a second before spotting Nami and Robin. Law quickly turned around to leave at the sight of the dark haired girl. She must be furious at him for telling Zoro about what had happened between them. He was probably the last person she wanted to see.

"Trafalgar, wait!"

Law turned around to see Robin hurrying towards him. "Robin…"

"Trafalgar, I was so worried. I haven't been able to contact Zoro or you all day and Sanji told me you two went somewhere alone last night. I thought something may have happened."

Law blinked in confusion before remembering he had turned his phone off that morning so that it wouldn't go off in his 11am interview. Wait, if Robin hadn't talked to Zoro… did that mean she didn't know what he had told Zoro? The fact she wasn't angry at him seemed to suggest that.

Robin looked expectantly at him. "Do you know where Zoro is?"

"Zoro… didn't come back here last night?"

"No he didn't, what happened-"

"Nothing. I'll find Zoro."

Before Robin could say anything else Law turned around and began walking away. This was all his fault and he had to somehow make this right.

######

Zoro was at the coffee shop for about an hour before he finally decided to hit the road again. He figured it was finally about time to return to the University. Luffy and the others were probably worried about him after all.

The only problem was the usual problem. Zoro's sense of direction had always let him down before and this time was no exception. Although it was a little more understandable considering he had barely been in Baltigo a day.

Zoro dialled Luffy's number, figuring he'd either need to ask his friends for directions or to even just come and meet him. However, Luffy didn't pick up. Zoro chose Usopp's number next and after a couple of dials the long nosed teen did answer.

"Zoro! Is that you?"

"Yeah, it is. Listen Usopp, I'm kind of lost and I-"

"Zoro, finally, I'm so glad you're alright! Where are you?"

"Uh I'm…" Zoro looked around. "Honestly, I don't know. Oh, there's a shop called Newkama Way fashion over there."

"Alright, I'll find where that is and me and Chopper will meet you there. Listen Zoro, something… Something bad happened last night. I'll tell you when I get there. In the meantime, just go and wait inside that shop for us."

"Alright."

With that Zoro hung up and turned towards the shop. In the window he could see brightly coloured flashy outfits and Zoro couldn't help but cringe slightly. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that.

Nonetheless, Zoro went inside, figuring the warmth of the weird shop was better than the cold of the snowy Baltigo streets. Dance music was playing in the background and the interior walls of the shop were painted bright purple. It was completely empty from the looks of it, even though there had been a sign hung on the door saying it was open. Suddenly, Zoro heard a loud voice coming from the back of the store.

"Bon Boy! It looks like we have a customer! Go out to greet him!"

A door behind the front desk opened and out came none other than Bon Kurei, formerly Mr. 2 of Baroque works. However, Bon had never met Zoro and Zoro had never met Bon, so Bon Kurei merely beamed widely at Zoro who looked blankly back at him.

"Hello Sir!" Bon practically shouted. "And just what are you looking for today? We've got all the newest, flashiest, most beautiful Okama clothing in all Baltigo!"

Zoro winced slightly. "Uh… to be honest, this isn't really my thing. I'm… I'm just waiting for someone…"

"Oh, I see, and he's the one who wants to look at our fantastic, dazzling, merchandise?"

"Uh yeah sure…"

Bon edged closer to Zoro who took a step back. "Are you sure I can't tempt you sir? A strapping young man like you would look spectacular in our clothes!"

"I… I'm alright thanks…"

Luckily for Zoro, just then the shop door open and in came Usopp and Chopper. However much to Zoro's surprise, the two froze at the sight of Bon. Usopp pointed at the shop assistant. "You… You're Mr. 2!"

"Ahh, Zoro run away!" Chopper yelped, hiding behind Usopp.

Zoro looked back at Mr. 2, who looked confused for a second before gasping. "Oh yeah, I remember you two now! Aren't you friends with Luffy? How is he doing?"

Usopp blinked. "Huh? Aren't you… What?"

Mr. 2 beamed at Usopp. "It is true that I once was a member of Baroque works… but meeting Luffy and that blonde friend of his changed my life forever. Thanks to him I was able to escape Baroque works and pursue my dream of becoming a Newkama! I.." Bon Kurei sniffed, seemingly getting emotional. "I owe everything to those two!"

"Is this guy for real?" Usopp muttered. "Anyway never mind, Zoro we have to get to the hospital now."

"The hospital? Why? You said something bad happened when we talked on the phone as well…"

Usopp exchanged a nervous glance with Chopper. "We'll explain on the way. For now we have to hurry."

Before Zoro could ask again what was going on, Usopp spun on his heels and began walking. Chopper looked worriedly at the long nosed teenager before glancing back at Zoro. Usopp gritted his teeth as he walked, him wanting to get back to the hospital as soon as possible. He had to be there for Luffy, since Luffy had always been there for him. Ever since that first day…

######

_A grumpy six-year-old Zoro glared at Luffy. "This is all your stupid fault again! Why did you have to try and sneak food into the class!"_

_Luffy laughed happily, not seeming to mind that him and Zoro had spent the first twenty minutes of their lunch break in the classroom, being kept back as a punishment for Luffy doing exactly what Zoro had just said. In terms of why Zoro was punished, it turned out that Luffy had hidden some food in Zoro's pockets without telling the green haired boy, with Luffy wanting to have as much to eat as possible. _

"_Yeah, I have 8000 men, all waiting under my command!" _

_A little bit away from Luffy and Zoro was a sizeable crowd of kids, all surrounding the person to whom that voice belonged to. Luffy and Zoro exchanged a confused glance before joining the back of the group. Once there they could see that the one at the centre of the huddle was a boy with long bushy black hair and a long twig shaped nose. He laughed once before he continued talking. _

"_So there I was, surrounded by three tigers, a couple of lions and a black panther. I thought there was no escape. But then I remembered my Super Strength. I picked up one of the tigers and whacked all the other cats with it. When I was done with them, I finished off the last tiger with my bare hands!"_

"_That's the dumbest story I've ever heard," Zoro said, more loudly than he realised. All the kids in the group turned to glare at Zoro before they realised who they were looking at and took a step back._

_You see, ever since the incident with Alvida and Morgan last year, Luffy and Zoro had gotten a bit of a reputation on the playground, and not a good one. Alvida and Morgan used to be the bullies at the top of the food chain, but now Luffy and Zoro had taken their place. None of the kids seemed to realise that Luffy and Zoro had no desire to bully or harm anyone, but everyone was too scared of the two to get to know them to figure this out for themselves. _

"_Aah! It's those two!" One kid shouted. Everyone seemed to take a step back, leaving Zoro and Luffy isolated. Luffy blinked._

"_I don't get it. Are we playing a game?"_

_Zoro rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's not it…" _

_Suddenly, one of the kids gasped and turned to Usopp. "Hey! Usopp! You're super strong, right? You can beat these two up, can't you?"_

_Usopp froze. "Uh.. I… uh… Yeah sure! Sure I can! These two bullies won't know what hit 'em!"_

_Luffy looked around. "Bullies? Where? Long nose, where are the bullies?"_

_Usopp stuck his finger out accusingly at Luffy. "How dare you call the Great Captain Usopp 'Long nose' you bully!"_

_Luffy stared blankly at Usopp before turning to Zoro. "This long nose sure has a high opinion of himself, huh?"_

_Before Zoro could respond, the crowd of kids turned on Luffy and Zoro. "You two are done for!" One shouted._

"_Usopp will kick your asses!" Another yelled. _

_Zoro turned to look at Usopp, who was smiling confidently at him and Luffy. He sighed before turning to his goofy friend. "I don't know what this is all about Luffy, but it looks like this long nose wants to fight us. Should I go or you?"_

_Luffy's stomach growled loudly. "You should go Zoro, I'm soooo hungry!"_

_Zoro rolled his eyes and stepped towards Usopp. The long nosed kid's eyes widened. What… what was going on? Were they really not at all scared by his stories? Did… did they seriously want to fight him. Zoro continued to approach Usopp before he stopped. Usopp blinked. What was going on? Why was he just standing there? _

_It was then he noticed that Zoro was looking down, at his legs. Usopp followed his gaze down and realized what Zoro was looking at. Usopp's knees were like jelly, shaking uncontrollably. The long nosed looked up once at Zoro, who was staring directly at him. Their eyes were fixed on each other's for a second before Zoro turned around and began walking away. Usopp blinked. "Wh… Where are you going?"_

_Zoro didn't bother looking back at Usopp. "I'm not gonna fight someone who doesn't have any desire to fight."_

_With that Luffy and Zoro left, Luffy cheering about the two finally going to get food. Usopp watched the two, not knowing how to react when all of a sudden the kids around him started cheering._

"_Did you see that? Roronoa Zoro was too scared to fight Captain Usopp! He just ran away because he was so scared!"_

"_With Captain Usopp around, we don't have to worry about those jerks again!"_

"_Three cheers for Captain Usopp!"_

_As the kids cheered, Usopp watched Luffy and Zoro disappear into the distance. Were those two really bullies? _

_######_

"_Excuse me! You two!"_

_Zoro and Luffy turned around to see Usopp running towards them. It was the day after the incident in the playground and Usopp had just about managed to slip away from his fans, really wanting to talk to Luffy and Zoro. "Oh hey, it's you Long nose!" Luffy said, smiling in such a way that Usopp could now tell that long nose wasn't actually the insult he thought it was yesterday. _

_Usopp turned to look at Zoro. "Hey. I was wondering why you walked away like that yesterday. I mean, you said you could tell I didn't want to fight you, so you… you probably know…"_

"_That all that stuff you were telling them is a lie and you're just a big scaredy-cat? Yeah, I know." Zoro said, completing the sentence, albeit not in the way Usopp was originally going to. _

"_Well yeah. But if you did know that, then why didn't you fight me! You could have beaten me up easily if you really are as strong as everyone thinks you are and then all those guys would think you're even stronger than they already think you are!"_

_Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Why would we want to do that?"_

"_Wh… what? Isn't it obvious? If people think you're strong, no one will want to mess with you! If you run away from fights like you did yesterday, people will think you're just a big wuss!"_

"_That's a dumb reason to fight."_

_Usopp blinked. He looked at Luffy. "A dumb reason?"_

"_I don't care what anyone thinks of me. The only time I fight is when someone hurts my friends."_

_With that, Usopp watched as Zoro and Luffy walked away again. _

_######_

"_So then I fired my slingshot straight at the giant goldfish's eye. It screamed in pain before falling back into the ocean, it knowing it had no chance of beating me!"_

_Usopp grinned as he looked around at the cloud of expectant children. He had only been at the school a few days now yet he seemed to more or less be the most popular kid in the entire school already. Things had worked out pretty well for him._

"_Hey there, which one of you runts is the kid called Usopp?"_

_Usopp turned around to see a group of boys from the year above them approaching him and the rest of his classmates. He grinned confidently at the boy at the front of the group, the one who had just spoken. He had a sharp pointy nose and long messy hair. "That would be me, the great Captain Usopp! And just who are you?"_

_The pointy nosed kid jerked a finger towards himself and grinned back. "My name's Hordy. Hordy Jones. I've heard a lot about you 'Captain' Usopp. Apparently you beat Monkey D Luffy And Roronoa Zoro, the two who beat Morgan and Alvida from my year."_

"_Usopp didn't even have to fight those two!" one of Usopp's classmates shouted, running to Usopp's side. "They were so scared of the Captain that they turned around and ran away!"_

_Usopp nodded and looked back towards Hordy, expecting that slight twisting of the truth to scare him. However instead Hordy's grin deepened. "Is that so? I wanted to be the one to teach those two a lesson myself, however if you beat them then I guess that you're the one I've gotta beat up to prove a point."_

_Usopp blinked. "Wait, what?"_

_Hordy took a step towards Usopp, the long nosed boy seeing this now wasn't going quite to plan. "So what do you say, 'Captain', let's get this started…"_

_Usopp tried to take a step back, but a couple of his classmates nudged him forwards, in the direction of Hordy, who wasn't scared of Usopp in the slightest. This was actually happening… _

_However just then, luckily, the school building door opened and out came Miss Makino. "Alright Children!" She called out. "Time to come inside!"_

_Usopp breathed a sigh of relief. __**"Perfect timing…" **__he thought to himself. __**"Any longer and I don't know what would have-"**_

"_Ah what a shame Captain," Hordy said, interrupting Usopp from his thoughts. "Guess we'll have to settle this tomorrow. Meet me here at the start of lunch and we'll see just one of us is top dog in this school." _

_Usopp gulped as Hordy turned and began walking away with his gang. Usopp's classmates cheered, all excited at the chance to see their hero in action tomorrow, not knowing that Usopp was inwardly freaking out. _

_######_

_Usopp sighed sadly. He was currently hiding behind a dumpster, this being his last resort. It was the day of his and Hordy's fight and he was doing the only thing he could think to do. There was no way he could take on that kid, he knew that for sure. He'd hide out here for the rest of lunch and then he'd have to think up something tonight. There was no way he could come back to this school ever again. Not when Hordy was waiting for him here._

"_Oh hey, it's long nose."_

_Usopp froze at the sound of the familiar voice. He turned around mechanically, jumping at the sight of Luffy crouched down next to him, grinning. "Wh… What are you doing here?! Don't tell me you're looking for me!"_

"_What are you talking about?" Zoro grumbled, him standing behind Luffy._

"_I… you don't know about my fight with Hody?" _

_Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Who's that?"_

"_He's this really tough kid, from the year above. Didn't you know, he challenged me to a fight yesterday." Usopp sighed. "It's over, there's no way I can beat him but these kids won't stop until we've fought. To be honest, the guy might kill me…"_

_Luffy frowned. "Say long nose, I've been wondering… Why did you start lying in the first place?"_

"_To be honest, it just sort of happened. At my old school, there were a bunch of bullies who always used to pick on me and my friends. But there was one bully who was the absolute worst. Every day, he'd terrorise us. But one day I overheard his mom at home time saying something about how they were moving next weekend. So on Friday I told all the kids that I was gonna teach this kid a lesson during the weekend. No one believed me, but when he didn't show up for school next Monday, I said it was because I beat him up so bad he was too scared of me to come back and they all believed me. From that point on, no one ever picked on me or my friends. I thought then that I had been wrong when I thought you needed strength to protect your friends. All you really needed was for people to think you're strong. Well, that worked for me up until now…"_

_Usopp's gaze dropped to the ground. However suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Luffy grinning at him. "I get it. You lied to protect you friends!"_

"_I… yeah, now that I think about it, that was why I did lie in the first place. All I wanted was to make sure they didn't get hurt again…" _

_Zoro smirked. "You're not so bad Long Nose."_

_Luffy patted Usopp heartily on the back. "Well good luck in your fight! See you later Long Nose!"_

_Usopp shook his head. "There's no way I'm fighting that guy! No I'm just gonna hide here until lunch is over and then I'll.. Well I don't know what I'll do about tomorrow, but I'll figure something out!"_

_Zoro scowled at him. "But if you did that, wouldn't this guy just pick on all the other kids? It sounds like they're relying on you."_

_Usopp froze. He hadn't thought of that. What would happen to the other kids if he didn't show up? Luffy stood up and nudged Zoro. "Hey, let's go. I thought of this new super fun game we could play!"_

"_But what about long nose and his fight?"_

_Luffy shrugged. "It's not our problem."_

_Usopp watched hopelessly as Luffy and Zoro left. What was he supposed to do? Hide here and let the other kids get beaten up? Or face Hordy and get his own ass kicked? What could he do? _

_######_

_Hordy laughed. "Well well, looks like your 'Captain Usopp' was too scared to show! What are you babies gonna do now?"_

_One of the kids glared at Hordy and his cronies. "Shut up! Captain Usopp will come and he'll beat all you guys up and you'll be sorry for messing with us!"_

"_Haha… I'm not gonna wait around all the day for that long nosed wimp. If he's not gonna show up, then I need to do something to kill time…"_

_He reached for the kid who had shouted at him, said boy freezing in fear. However just as he was about to touch him…_

"_Wait!"_

_Hordy turned around to see Usopp standing there, his knees once again shaking uncontrollably. He grinned. "Ah. 'Captain Usopp'. I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show…" _

"_Captain Usopp!" The kids cheered. _

_However instead of confidently strolling up to Hordy like the kids thought he would, Usopp fell to his knees and bowed in front of the older boy. "Please stop this. I can't fight you, there's no way I could. So that's why… I beg you, please beat just me up and leave the rest of them alone!"_

_All the kids watched shocked as Usopp grovelled. Hordy laughed. "Haha, I figured. You're just a wimpy little liar. You want me to spare the rest of your little friends? Pfft, as if. We'll beat up every single one of them you long nosed wimp…" _

_Hordy reached for the same kid, however just then Usopp reached into his back pocket and took out a slingshot. He reached into another pocket, and took out a fistful of small stones. He put one into the slingshot and fired at Hordy, hitting him on the side of his head. Hordy whipped his head around to glare at Usopp. He stomped over in Usopp's direction, the long nosed teen closing his eyes and bracing himself for the ass-kicking that he knew was coming. _

_However, it didn't come. Usopp's eyes slowly cracked open, revealing someone was standing between him and Hordy. "You're… Straw Hat…"_

_Luffy was staring evenly at Hordy, his back to Usopp. "Hey Long nose, so is this that Hordy guy?"_

"_Uh yeah but… why did you come. I thought you said… I thought you said this wasn't your problem?"_

"_The lying wimp that would ignore his friends who were relying on him. I hate people like that. But I saw what you said before, about how you wanted this guy to leave everyone else alone. And now…" Luffy turned around and grinned at Usopp. "I kinda like you Long nose!"_

_Usopp gasped. What Luffy had said earlier…_

"_**I don't care what anyone thinks of me. The only time I fight is when someone hurts my friends."**_

"_Does that mean you…. You'd call me your friend?"_

"_Yeah, totally!"_

_Zoro walked past Usopp and stood at Luffy's side. "The same goes for me. That took guts doing what you did Long Nose."_

_Usopp smiled, a genuine smile. It wasn't that Luffy and Zoro respected him because they were impressed by his lies like all the other kids. They knew those lies were false. They liked him because of what he'd done when he wasn't lying. "Oh… And my name's Usopp by the way…"_

_Hordy Laughed. "Monkey D Luffy and Roronoa Zoro! You were the guys that dealt with Morgan, aren't you? Heh, I ain't scared of you wimps! From what I've heard you actually believed this weakling's lies and were too scared to even try to fight him! Just what do you think a couple of runts like you can do to me!"_

_Hordy charged at Luffy and swung at him, but Luffy blocked it with the outside of his forearm. Before Hordy could blink, Luffy slammed his shin into Hordy's side, knocking to the ground. Hordy stuggled to scramble to his feet and swung at Luffy, but the younger boy caught his punch and finished off Hordy with a punch to the stomach. _

_Hordy's cronies stood frozen, unable to believe Luffy's strength. Zoro looked coldly at them. "Alright my turn, which one of you wants to fight m-"_

_Before Zoro could even finish his sentence the group of boy spun on their heels and ran away. "That was it?" Zoro grumbled._

_Luffy looked down at Hordy, who was moaning in agony. "Why isn't he running away?"_

"_You hurt him too bad I guess…"_

_Just then, all the kids started cheering. Luffy and Zoro exchanged a confused glance as all the kids huddled around them and Usopp._

"_That was so cool Straw Hat!"_

"_You kicked Hordy's ass!"_

"_Thank you for protecting us! You're a hero!"_

_Zoro scowled at them. "You know I liked it better when they hated us," he muttered, quietly so only Luffy could hear him._

_Luffy glared at all the kids. "Hey listen! I don't want to be a hero! If a hero has meat, he'd share the meat with other people! I want to eat all the meat!"_

_Usopp's jaw dropped. "That's how you define a hero?!"_

_Zoro nodded in agreement. "Luffy's right."_

_Usopp's jaw dropped even further. "What the hell's wrong with you two?!"_

_######_

Usopp smiled to himself at that memory. That was the first time he had met Luffy. Ever since that day, Usopp had been friends with Luffy and Zoro, him the second to join Luffy's 'crew' (That was what Mr Smoker referred to Luffy's friends as). And honestly, becoming friends with Luffy that day was the best thing that had ever happened to Usopp.

**Yeah, probably not the direction you were expecting, but I wanted to write a little story for each of the Straw Hats showing how they met Luffy. I already did Zoro's in the last story and this was Usopp's. Robin obviously won't need one but the others, yeah.**


	23. Law's Angel

**Sorry for the delay.**

"Damn, Roronoa... where are you...?" Law mumbled, pulling his scarf tighter around him. He had been searching the Baltigo streets for Zoro for an hour now, but had been unable to see any sign of the green haired teenager whatsoever. What he was not awere of was that Zoro was heading to the hospital with Usopp and Chopper currently, having been told about the situation with Ace.

As you'd expect, Law was worried sick currently. After telling Zoro the truth about him and Robin last night, the green haired teen had punched Law before storming away angrily. Law didn't follow him, thinking it would be best to give him space. He didn't think something like this would happen though and Zoro would dissapear completely. Would... would he do something he'd regret?

Law shook his head, banishing that thought, but quickening his pace. Law wasn't sure what he'd say when/if he did find Zoro but he knew he had to know whether his friend was alright. Although whether Zoro would still call him his friend he wasn't sure...

And what would Robin say? What would happen between her and Zoro? If they broke up over this... would he have a chance to win her back? No, Law definitely couldn't do that, he couldn't do that to Zoro. Plus, what was more likely was that Robin would hate him too for what he did. Not to mention what Luffy and the others would think of Law too...

Law gritted his teeth. None of that mattered now. All that mattered was that Zoro was safe and well.

######

Doflamingo chuckled slightly. "The policeman? He's the one I spared before. If I had known you wanted him dead so much I would have ordered Baby 5 to shoot him too..."

Teach laughed. "Ze ha ha ha... it wouldn't have been the same Doffy. Besides, I wanted to recruit Ace more than anything. It's a shame he wasn't more agreeable. Thank you for inviting me for lunch by the way. I didn't know you had a hideout in Baltigo..."

"Heh heh heh heh... I have hideouts everywhere Teach. Helps me with my... business."

"I guess so... And speaking of Business, any luck finding that Monet?"

"Not yet, although you mentioned that you met Straw Hat, yes?"

Teach nodded, grinning at the memory of pinning the teenager to the ground. "I was this close to killing Ace's brother... Oh well, this won't be the last chance I have to do that."

Doflamingo leaned back in his chair and smiled. "If that boy means that much to you then getting rid of him will be easy. He's just in the process of signing for my team actually. It'll be easy to create a situation where you can deal with him."

"Oh really? That's quite the favour Doffy."

"It's nothing. To be honest, it's a total coincidence that the kid Diamante ended up recruiting was someone you have an interest in. But anyway, if Straw Hat is here I wonder... If Law is too."

"Who's that?"

"One of Straw Hat's little kiddie friends... and a pain in my ass. He's been chasing me for a while, not to mention he stopped Caesar and took out Vergo. On top of that he suspects Violet and he's looking for Monet too."

"Ze ha ha.. What a troublesome kid!"

"He is, but at the same time..." Doflamingo grinned widely. "I do enjoy playing with him."

######

Zoro gritted his teeth. "I can't believe something like this was happening. Ace... Luffy..."

Usopp nodded. "Yeah... Although now that I think about it, where have you been Zoro?"

Zoro shook his head. "Long story, it's not important now. How much further is the hospital?"

"It's only like a couple of minutes away... we just need to take the next right and then its not too far."

"Right, then..."

Zoro trailed off, him catching sight of a familiar face walking on the opposite side of the street to him, Usopp and Chopper. He stopped completely, startling Usopp and Chopper, who hadn't noticed the person Zoro was staring at, nor had she noticed Zoro staring at her. Usopp looked urgently at Zoro."Oi, what are you doing! What's wrong?"

"Guys, over there..."

Usopp and Chopper followed Zoro's gaze before they too froze. "That is..."

The girl stopped, her finally realising that the three boys were staring at her, although she hadn't registered who the three boys were yet. She turned around slowly before her eyes widened. "You guys are.."

######

Robin looked nervously at the man standing by the side of their table while Nami just ignored him. Dragon glanced at Nami once before looking at Robin. "I only want to ask... how is Luffy?"

"We... We haven't heard from him for a couple of hours now... but things were still up in the air."

"You don't have to tell him Robin," Nami sharply said. "He has nothing to do with this."

Dragon looked coldly at her. "How childish. Surely what is important right now is Luffy not-"

"You have nothing to do with Luffy. Stop pretending like you do."

Robin looked between Nami and Dragon, seeing she may have to play peacemaker here. "I think Luffy's father is just concerned... although Nami has a point. Until this is all sorted, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to spring this whole situation on Luffy."

"Speaking of which, why do you only give a fuck about Luffy? Don't you care about your other son, Ace?!" Nami said, glaring at Dragon.

Dragon blinked in surpise. "Garp... Garp didn't tell you?" Nami and Robin looked confusedly at him. He raised his eyebrows. "The old man really has kept all this a secret huh... I find it curious that you've directed all your hatred at me, but haven't even thought about all the lies Garp has told. Maybe there's more than one villain in this story of yours..."

"What lies?" Robin asked. Dragon shook his head.

"I'm not interested in telling you. If you want to find out, ask Garp."

A vein popped on Nami's forehead. "You rude jerk! You're not interested in telling us?! Well we're not interested in knowing you at all so why don't you just buzz off out of Luffy's life again like you did the first time!"

Dragon chuckled slightly before turning around. "You are quite the fiesty one. It's interesting that my son likes that in a girl..."

Nami continued to glare at Dragon as he walked away whilst Robin looked worriedly at her friend. Just how were they ever going to sort this whole mess out?

######

Law sighed as he re-entered the University building. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't find Zoro anywhere and was literally just running around blind out there. He really wanted to find Zoro... but what could he do?

"Oh, Trafalgar, hi."

Law turned around to see Hancock walking towards him. "Oh, hey Boa-ya. How was your interview? You had one this morning, right?"

Hancock sighed. "It was difficult. It was hard to concentrate with... well, you know..."

"You know Roronoa's missing too?"

Hancock blinked in confusion. "What? No, I was talking about... Luffy's brother... Zoro is missing?"

"Uh yeah, but what do you mean Straw Hat-ya's brother?"

"I... you don't know? Trafalgar, Luffy's brother..."

######

Robin nearly dropped her phone in surprise at the sound of Zoro picking up on her 63rd (yes she'd counted them) attempt at calling him. "Zoro! Are you there?"

"Robin."

"Zoro, where are you? I've been trying to reach you for so long. I was so worried-"

"Robin, I'm at the hospital. I'm just in the elevator now with Chopper, on the way to Luffy's room. Some... some stuff has happened..."

After reaching the hospital, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper and their new companion had found Sanji in the main entrance area, him having gone downstairs to get something for Luffy to eat. Zoro and Chopper had left the other three behind to talk since Zoro was desperate to see Ace and Luffy and he of course needed Chopper to go with him to ensure he didn't get lost.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"You should probably come and meet her for yourself when you can come over here. It's hard to believe we actually just happened to find her, but yeah..."

"What are you talking about, who-"

"Oh, and Law told me about what happened between you two..."

Robin froze. For a second the whole room around her went silent, those few seconds seeming to take much longer to pass. When she didn't reply, Zoro kept talking. "We can talk about that later though, for now we need to deal with the current situations."

Robin bit her lip. "Zoro, you have to understand, nothing happened, it was just a moment of weakness and we stopped before anything could even ha-"

"I know it s not like that. If it was just nothing you would have told me."

"Zoro..."

"I don't want to hear this now. Later."

Before Robin could say anything else, Zoro hung up. Robin stared hollowly at her phone, her expression alarming Nami. "Robin! What s wrong!?"

Robin didn't say anything, instead getting up. "We need to go to the hospital, now."

Law shivered slightly as he walked through the now heavy snow. The weather really had taken a turn for the worse. Not that that mattered to much to Law currently, he was trying to get to the hospital as soon as he could. "Straw Hat-ya..." Law muttered to himself, wondering just how Luffy was doing.

If Law was honest, he and Luffy were never all that close before. They had been in the same school for years, but their relationship had only really been a sort of rivalry before. It was difficult to describe why exactly, but there was something about the two which attracted people to themselves. Luffy and Law were natural leaders and people tended to want to be around them. Law had always respected Luffy, seeing him as his equal in a way and he felt that Luffy thought of him the same way.

But over the last year their relationship had changed. It had all started when Law had met Robin and wanted to get closer to her. Being around Robin automatically meant being around the rest of her friends. But it wasn t just that. The more time Law spent with Luffy, the more he felt himself almost getting sucked in by the goofy teenager. Law could now see it was impossible to be around Luffy and not become his friend. That was just his superpower.

######

Sanji looked over at Usopp, who was staring down at the table they were sitting at. The two were currently sitting in a cafe downstairs in the hospital, not really sure what to say to the person sitting opposite them.

Said girl chuckled slightly. "I can't believe I ended up running into you guys here..."

Usopp nodded slowly. "The same goes for us. I mean, Law hasn't stopped looking for you since you left..."

"I guess our hunch yesterday was correct then," Sanji said. "Law guessed you might be working at the University... It's a shame you didn't run into him there."

"He... He's at the University?"

Usopp nodded "He's got interviews. So do Nami, Robin and Hancock, actually that's why we're here, although things escalated quite a bit and we have ended up staying longer than we expected..."

"I see. Well, it's probably for the best that I haven't seen him. I... I need to stay away from Traffy. For his own safety."

Sanji shook his head. "No, that's not gonna work. Law's going after Doflamingo, he wants to stop him so that you can be free. And we're all helping him too."

"I... are you kidding? No, you guys need to stop now! I know you guys were able to stop Caesar... but Doflamingo is on a completely different level. You guys can't do this! I..."

The green haired girl trailed off at the sight of a familiar face entering the main building of the hospital. He headed straight to the front desk, not noticing her, Sanji and Usopp sitting there. "Tr... Traffy..."

Law turned around, his expression impatient as he waited for the receptionist at the desk to find out which room Ace was in. It seemed to take an eternity for Law's eyes to meet those of her, but when they did, they stayed met.

The lady at the desk smile triumphantly and turned back to Law, however he had completely forgotten she was even there. The receptionist looked worriedly at him, Law's expression that of someone who had seen a ghost. And she had no idea how apt that was.

Law had chosen to believe that she was alive, but he had always had that bad feeling, that maybe Vergo hadn't lied, and that she really was dead. But here she was, sitting just a hundred metres or so away from him. Was this a dream? No, it wasn't. This was real.

Sanji nudged Usopp. "We should probably go. These two will want to be alone..."

Usopp nodded and the two got up and made their way over to Law, Sanji patting him on the back as they passed him and began heading back in the direction of Ace's room. Law looked back at them before looking back at the girl before him. His angel.

"Monet..."

**I feel like that reunion's been a long time coming... **

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


End file.
